Octavian Smigelschi, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetOctavian Smigelschi
Austro-Hungarian Romanian painter
Date of Birth: 21-Mar-1866
Place of Birth: Ludoș, Sibiu County, Romania
Date of Death: 10-Nov-1912
Profession: painter
Zodiac Sign: Aries 
About Octavian Smigelschi
- Octavian or Octav Smigelschi (last name also Smigelski, Smighelschi, Szmigelszki, or Szmigelschi; Hungarian: Szmigelszki Oktáv; March 21, 1866 – November 10, 1912) was an Austro-Hungarian painter and printmaker, one of the leading culturally Romanian artists in his native Transylvania.
- Of mixed Polish, Aromanian, and possibly Ruthenian, background, he identified mainly with the Romanian-speaking Greek-Catholics, although some of his most important work was also done for the rival Romanian Orthodox Church.
- Smigelschi graduated from the Drawing School and Art Teachers' College in Budapest, working on and off at high schools in Upper Hungary and Transylvania.
- His European journeys with Arthur Coulin took him to Cervara di Roma, where he studied Renaissance art, while moving away from academic art and into Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Modernizing themes from Romanian folklore and Byzantine art, from 1903 Smigelschi focused his effort mainly on Christian art and modelli, including initial work for decorating Blaj Cathedral.
- He was among those commissioned to paint Sibiu Orthodox Cathedral, which required him to study religious art in the neighboring Kingdom of Romania.
- His "new vision" combined elements of Symbolism into the Orthodox tradition—a synthesis also found in his murals for smaller churches throughout Transylvania, and in his work on icons.
- His contribution was relatively ignored in Romania, but well-liked in Transylvania and Transleithania at large, earning Smigelschi the Vilmos Fraknói prize in 1907.
- He died of a heart disease while he was preparing to focus his work on Hungarian churches.
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