[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock”, a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]

HATVANI, Jan [1903–1969]

The After-Party [Portrait of Per-Edvard-Anders Lund]

ca1933

oil on canvas / 33 inches by 25 inches

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1903. Studied at the Academy around 1930 and traveled in several European countries. He later settled in Scandinavia where he lived in Sweden. He is best known for his series of portraits and cityscapes. He also drew caricatures at Liseberg amusement park and Tivoli in Copenhagen.

A handful of on-line images and a few words in English unfairly and inadequately summarize the career of itinerant European artist Jan Hatvani. Apparently few of his works crossed the Atlantic and found their way into North American collections. We are the grateful exception.

This large oil-on-canvas portrait shows Swedish concert pianist Per-Edvard-Anders Lund [1900–1977] moments after what may have been his last performance at Stockholm’s Konserthuset. Ivar Tengbom’s blue-glazed Neo-Classical home of the Stockholm Philharmonic was then fewer than ten years old. Lund is relaxing—coming down—from a performance of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3, his farewell before departure for America and a new life in teaching. Lund’s portrait is co-owned by the Friends of Music and Northwest Iowa College, where it hangs in their music department. It is on loan to the Community Collection for this exhibit.

If you’re wondering, the Teddy Bear accompanied Lund to each appearance for luck.