István Szigethy (Hungarian, 1891-1966), Man and Goat

Oil on Masonite, faint signature at lower right, framed.

Board 26 3/4 x 21 1/2 in.; Frame dimensions 30 x 24 1/2 in.

Sotheby's, New York
Acquired from the above

A pupil of Károly Ferenczy and Tivadar Zemplényi at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, István Szigethy continued his studies in Nagybánya and Munich. He was a close friend of fellow artist Ede Bohacsek, whose portrait he painted in 1913. A volume of his ex-libris designs was published in Kolozsvár (present-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania), with an introduction by the celebrated Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy. In 1922, he published Grotesque, a portfolio of copper etchings accompanied by a preface by poet and author Dezső Kosztolányi.

From the late 1920s until 1932, he lived in Berlin, where his drawings appeared regularly in the influential illustrated journal Jugend. Upon returning to Hungary, he established himself as one of Budapest’s most popular newspaper caricaturists, earning recognition for his distinctive draftsmanship and incisive observations of contemporary life.

Area of paint lifting and loss; light surface grime; no evidence of restoration visible under UV light.