About Willy Pogany

Name variants

Willy A Pagony, William Andrew Pogany
  • Biography from the Archives of askART

    Willy Pogany biographical photo
    Born in Szeged, Hungary, he became one of the better known and successful illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration, completing over 100 books. Among them are "A Treasury of Verse for Little Children," "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." He is probably best known for pen and ink drawings of mythology subjects geared towards children.

    He studied at Budapest Technical University and attended art schools in Munich and Paris before moving to London at age 23. In 1907, he began illustrating children's books and did a series of annual gift books, special deluxe editions.

    He was not a British citizen, and soon after World War I began, he emigrated with his family to New York City and became a permanent resident there. He continued illustrating books and also designed scenery and costumes for the Metropolitan Opera House and mural decorations for public and private residences including that of William Randolph Hurst. For a period he lived in Hollywood and did celebrity portraits and set designs before returning to New York where he died on July 30, 1955.
  • Biography from the Archives of askART

    Willy Pogany biographical photo
    Born in Szeged, Hungary on August 24, 1882. Pogany studied at the Budapest Academy of Arts. By 1915 he had arrived in NYC. While in Hollywood in the 1930s, he designed sets for movies and painted portraits of film stars. He died in NYC on July 30, 1955. Member: Salmagundi Club; Architectural League (NYC). Exh: PPIE, 1915 (gold medal); LA Public Library, 1927; Magyar Artists (LA), 1932-33; Businessmen's Art Club (LA), 1934; Print Rooms (Hollywood), 1935; Calif. Art Club, 1938.
  • Biography from Sovcom

    Hungarian graphic artist. Master of book illustration. Graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. In the 1900s he began illustrating books. Among his works are illustrations for such works as “Parzival or the Legend of the Holy Grail”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Faust”, “Kalevala”, “Odysseus”, “The Golden Fleece”, “Gulliver’s Travels”, “Bible Stories”, “The Golden Cockerel”, “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Golden Fish”. Since 1914, he developed designs for theatrical scenery and costumes for productions at the Metropolitan Opera.

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