Alajos Unger (Györ, 1814-1848)
Country
Hungary, Austria
Gender
Male
Other names
Alois Unger, Lajos Unger, Aloys Unger, Aloysius Unger, Unger Alajos
Professions
Painter; Draughtsman; Designer
Places of work
Raab/Györ, Vienna, Pest, Sopron/Ödenburg
Written by:
Prof. Dr. Claudia Wunderlich
SHORT SUMMARY
Unger, Alajos, Hungarian painter, draughtsman, playing card designer baptised 29.10.1814 Györ, Hungary, †28.12.1848 ibid. Son of playing card painter Mátyás (Mathias) U. the Elder and brother of playing card painter Mátyás (Mathias) U. the Younger
LIFE AND WORK
Details of the life and work of Alajos Unger and the exact dates of his life only became known in recent years thanks to the research of Prof. Dr Claudia Wunderlich. He came from the Unger family of playing card painters, while his older brother Károly (Carl) worked as a scribe and archivist in the episcopal chancellery of Raab, and after U.’s death also under the later prince primate of Hungary, János Simor, who had an affinity for art. Attended the national drawing school in Györ, first under Ferenc Ottó Hieronymi, later under János Hofbauer. Additionally, he attended an elementary drawing course at the Vienna Academy under Karl Gselhofer in the spring semester of 1833. In autumn 1833, his talent was discovered in a drawing competition at the drawing school in Györ on the basis of a landscape drawing, after he had already received attention for his drawing of a Corinthian column. At this time he must have been training as a playing card painter with his father Mátyás U. the Elder. He was a member of the Unger family of playing card painters, with his older brother Károly (Carl) working as a scribe and archivist in the episcopal chancellery of Györ, and after U.’s death also under the later prince primate of Hungary, János Simor, who had an affinity for art. ,In 1836 he returned to the Vienna Academy, which he attended until 1842, as a pupil of Leopold Kupelwieser, later of Johann Ender. According to his oeuvre known today, he must have travelled to Italy according to the customs of the time, which must also have led him to the Nazarene Friedrich Overbeck, like many other Hungarian graduates of the Academy. More detailed information might be found in the passport record in the city archives of his hometown, but – despite regular enquiries by the author – has allegedly not been found since 2007, although it has een listed in the archive’s inventory.
After returning to his home town, he worked from there and in 1846 sent his painting ‘King Saint Ladislas of Hungary recognises King Solomon’ to the exhibition of the Art Association of Pest. This was after his family had been commended at the trade exhibition in Györ for their particularly beautiful playing cards with Hungarian-clad figures, which he must have designed. In September of that year, he set off on another long journey. Due to the revolution of 1848, he returned to Györ in the spring of that year and initially served in the National Guard. In the summer, he offered private drawing lessons and stated, in a newspaper advert, that he had trained in this field during his tours. He died of cholera in his hometown on 28 December 1848.
His works include:
Portrait of a lady, Portrait Collection of the University of Pennsylvania, (1836), Battle Scene / Recapture of Györ, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, (1840), Portrait of an old lady knitting (1842), The Baptism of Vajk, Saint King Stephen of Hungary (1842), Family portrait, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, (1843), King St. Ladislas seeing King Salomon (1846), exhibited at the art association of Pest’s exhibition, Picture clock with a view of Venice (1847).
Other works such as genre paintings, including the depiction of a pub scene from the collection of Lajos Petz, exhibited in Budapest and Györ in 1902/03, and religious paintings, including a copy of Cesare da Sesto’s Vierge au Bas relief, are of unknown date.
Despite early realism in portraits, in religious paintings, U. shows a style influenced by Kupelwieser and Führich’s Romantic-Nazarene style. His family portrait also seem to have been impacted by Johann Ender.
Bibliography: cf.
and the literature cited there.
The Hungarian National Gallery is currently exhibiting Unger’s family portrait as well as printing blocks and a proof of the playing cards designed by the Unger family and himself. The text was taken from the of Prof. Dr. Claudia Wunderlich published in leading Hungarian journals, including an abridged and only slightly paraphrased version of the complete panel for the family portrait (the text is identical to that in the exhibition catalogue) and the artist’s biographical data of Alajos Unger, which had been unknown was also taken from Prof. Wunderlich on the National Gallery’s homepage without giving her any credit given. Nowhere is her name mentioned on the website or, most importantly, her publications cited. It is therefore plagiarism, as was already the case in 2023 in a book by the curator of the exhibition.
