HENRIK MAJOR (Salonta 1895 - 1948 Provincetown, MA)
Male portrait, 1914
oil/jute, 37,8 x 30,5 cm
signed Henrik Major, dated 1914

ESTIMATE °€ 500 - 800
STARTING PRICE °€ 500

Henrik Major, born with the surname Marktbreiter and known under the stage name Sicu, was a Hungarian-American graphic artist and painter and, in particular, a caricaturist. He was the younger brother of the film director Dezs? Major. He was born in Nagyszalonta/Großsalonta/Salonta, (then Hungary, now Romania) into a Jewish family as the son of the shoemaker Jónás Markbreiter and Terezia Pollák. Even as a child, he was distinguished by his drawings and humor. He studied painting and was a student of Károly Ferenczy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He published his first cartoons at the age of 19 on the front page of "Fidibusz". His drawings triggered a completely new trend in Hungary. He drew his drawings using either “Major” or “Sicu”. Pilangó, Pikkólo, Krix-krax, Fules Ogoly, Bolond Istók, Eszkize and the leading humor newspaper Jankó Borsszem also published his drawings. There he became the midwife for the "Színházi Elet" (Theater Life), founded in 1912, under Sándor Incze and his employed draftsman. In 1913 his books “Komediások” and “Panoptikum” were published in the Tevan Library in Bekescsaba. In 1915, he had a solo exhibition at the Ernst Museum. As a speed artist, he appeared regularly in cabarets. Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War he was drafted into military service. In 1915. he was injured and taken to the Új-Szent-ános Hospital in Budapest. During his recovery he was allowed to paint and draw on the ward. He drew for the comic book Szamár, published in 1917, and later for the left-wing newspaper Aprilis (1918–1919). In 1919, after the fall of the Soviet Republic, Major emigrated to Paris in 1919 and earned his living with portraits. In 1921. he was invited to the Netherlands as a cartoonist for the Telegraph. From abroad he regularly published in Hungarian newspapers: Az Újság, a Pesti Mozi, Színházi Futár, a Színházi Elet, Roepke Lapok, Magyar Kabare, Új Revue, Ma, Mozi, a Kepes Újság, a Divat, a Heti Újság, a Társaság, a Rendkívueli Újság, Új Világ, Kis Újság. His drawings have appeared in the columns of Lantos Magazin, Új Id?k, Tábort?z, Magyar Zsidó Almanach (Hungarian-Jewish Almanac) and Kepes Vasárnap. He later published his drawings in London in the newspaper The Graphic; In 1925 he worked again in Amsterdam. In 1926 he went to America, where he worked as a political cartoonist in Hollywood. From 1926 he published frequently in Vanity Fair. That same year, he was received by President Calvin Coolidge and made a caricature of the president in the courtyard of the White House. In 1927, he portrayed Charlie Chaplin in New York. Major organized an exhibition and released an album of his caricature sculptures of prominent Americans. In 1948, shortly before his death, he greeted the readers of Pesti Ize from America, his former colleagues, and sent several drawings for the newspaper. His unexpected death was reported by leading American newspapers. Major Henrik's rapid work pace and tremendous productivity mean that the number of his drawings runs into the thousands. To this day, there is no catalogue raisonne.

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