Knight in Africa (1932)

By the 1930s, Kata Benedek had become a successful illustrator, graphic designer and set designer. The influence of her master, Álmos Jaschik, in her early works is clear, but Knight in Africa shows a more recent influence. Benedek composes her figures in a classical triangle, with the locals and their guests (the two horsemen) well separated. The houses clustered together in the background and the black-haired man's cane in the foreground emphasise the enclosed composition. Benedek's subject matter, the way it is structured, and her style, which combines the flat decorative elements of Art Nouveau with the anti-Classical and anti-naturalistic representational style of Mannerism, make her a contemporary of Gyula Batthyány.