Biography
Armand Schönberger was a Hungarian painter. He began his studies as an autodidact, first copying Munkácsy's paintings, and then at the free-spirited evening nude drawing course of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. In Munich, he trained at the free school led by Anton Azbe, which opposed academicism. From 1905, he studied at the official Munich Academy, where his masters were: J. C. Herterich, P. Halm. In the summer, he visited the Nagybánya painting school, just at the time when the organization of the Neos began.
Schönberger spent almost every summer here until 1912, and was greatly influenced by the young people who grouped around Béla Czóbel. In 1909, in Paris, he became acquainted with Cézanne's perspective on space and Delaunay's cubist-expressionist paintings, which had a decisive influence on his later art. Later, he developed his skills further in the evening nude drawings of the Grande Chaumière. At that time he painted portraits and still lifes in the spirit of Nagybánya and exhibited them at the House of Artists in 1910. He later cut up these works as a sign of his change of perspective, and thus, with a few exceptions (e.g.: Man Sitting at the Table, 1906; Parisian Woman, Parisian Man, 1909), they cannot be reconstructed. He presented himself as a sculptor at the House of Artists exhibition in 1913, but later abandoned this branch of art.
Schönberger was among the avant-garde artists who grouped around the magazines formed under the intellectual leadership of Lajos Kassák, Tett in 1915 and Ma in 1916, he participated in their second exhibition and collaborated with them from then on. In 1917, he was a founding member of the Hetek painting group. His paintings from this period – which show the strong influence of the Eight, especially Bertalan Pór – were still considered path-finding by critics (e.g.: Boy's Nude, 1917; Family, 1918). In 1919, Schönberger was a member of the board of the Fine Arts Association, along with János Kmetty, József Nemes Lampérth, Dezső Bokros Birman and others. Despite not being in agreement with the artists of Today who were forced into emigration, Schönberger took a stand for progressive aspirations between the two world wars and participated in the exhibitions of the Belvedere, which was established in 1921 in the footsteps of the House of Artists.
He mostly made expressive ink-and-charcoal and chalk drawings (e.g.: Female Head, Self-Portrait, Under a Bridge, 1922) and exhibited these in the Belvedere in 1923. The tightly structured works are based on the contrast of black and white colors and the influence of strong graphic lines of force, and at the same time express emotional tension. His individual cubist-expressionist approach is evident in his portrait of his daughter, which also radiates restlessness with its strong colors: Vera, 1925. His cityscapes – which make up a significant part of his oeuvre – form a flat, structured visual unit, radiate energy and show clarity of content with their cubist elements and geometric shapes: Buda Landscape, 1924; Danube Quay, 1929.
He took part in the exhibitions of the New Society of Fine Artists and the New Society of Fine Artists, and was a regular member of the New Society of Fine Artists from its founding. In addition to Cézanne, the Cubists and the German Expressionists, he was also influenced by the colors of the Fauves, and he incorporated all these stylistic features into a composition with a constructive approach. (e.g.: Still Life, early 20s; Houses on a Hill, 1930; Nude Composition with Dog, 1929). His works made between the two world wars, in addition to portraits and figurative compositions, immortalize the scenes of metropolitan life – cafés, concerts, cityscapes. He retains the structural style and indestructible pictorial order of his main works of the 20s and 30s in his later works, but in a more emotional, lyrical, and classical formulation.
Due to his painterly principles, he hardly exhibited from 1945 to 1958. His socialist-style attempts were presented at group exhibitions. In the 1960s, his main themes were intimate corners of rooms and nudes conveying harmony (e.g. Sleeping Woman, 1964). He left behind an equally impressive body of work as a graphic artist and painter, carrying on the legacy of the early avant-garde in both genres.
