Born in Budapest, Miklós (Nicholas) Hornyánszky (more often spelled without the “z”) worked from the age of twelve in his father’s printing works. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the age of sixteen exhibited at the Grand Salon in Budapest. He continued his artistic studies in Vienna, Munich, Antwerp and Paris. Around 1919, he made his debut as a confirmed artist in Belgium, where he stayed for 9 years, collaborating notably with the painter Hans Hens.

In 1929, the family emigrated to Toronto. In spite of the Depression, the couple quickly found success. Hornyansky traveled all over Canada, creating pencil and ink drawings that he used as images in his etchings and aquatints. Well known in the United States, his engraving, “Closing Time” was the first Canadian engraving to be incorporated into the permanent collection of prints of the Library of Congress.

These Hornyansky prints were purchased from a gallery in Toronto, acquired by Sandor Szolnay, a fellow countryman, during his emigration to the U.S.

Is “Evening Glow” a recollection of the artists former home in Hungary? Nostalgia is a powerful force.