Biography
Basilides Barna (Tornalja, March 2, 1903 – Budapest, February 12, 1967) was a Hungarian painter, graphic artist, and tapestry designer.
He began his studies in the graphic arts department of the National Hungarian School of Applied Arts in 1920, and graduated from the College of Fine Arts in 1925, where his teachers were the painters Gyula Rudnay and István Bosznay. That same year, he went on a study trip to Italy, and then visited Paris and Vienna. At that time, the Society of Spiritual Artists was also established, of which he was a founding member. He participated in the exhibitions of the KÉVE from 1929. In 1940-1941, he was a scholarship holder of the Collegium Hungaricum in Rome. At the same time, he was a member of the National Hungarian Society of Fine Arts and the Szolnok Artist Colony. He was the artistic director of Műbarát.
There are no clearly distinguishable periods or stylistic changes in his painting, and until the end of his life, works with a cartoonish, fairy-tale atmosphere emerged from his studio. The influence of the defining trends of the 1920s and 1930s - art deco and new objectivity (neue sachlichkeit) - can be found in his works. He was a sought-after artist in the 1940s, most often painting landscapes and figures placed in landscapes. He faded into the background after World War II.
