“Desiderius Orban was an Hungarian artist and art teacher, and a foundation
member of the group, Nyolcak, established in Budapest in 1908. Orban and seven
others were instrumental in introducing to Hungary the forces of Post-Impressionism,
Fauvism and Cubism. He settled in Sydney in 1939, and later opened an art school
in which the role of the creative imagination in the practice of art was given
first place.
Orban played an important part in changing the character of art in Sydney leading
a number of Australian expatriates arriving from war-threatened Europe. His low-toned
oils and pastels matched the spirit of the emerging Sydney Romantic School and
were important factors in its creation.
In 1980, Orban held his first London exhibition, he was ninety six. The
following year he held a large retrospective exhibition in Melbourne
which covered seventy
years of his work”.
REFERENCE
Bernard Smith, Australian Painting 1788-1990, Oxford University Press Australia,
South Melbourne, 1991, page 228
REPRESENTED
National Gallery of AustraliaAll State GalleriesPublic Galleries in Budapest
