Eugen Feiks

Jenő (Eugen) Feiks, whose full name was Jenő Feiks Pál Zoltán (born on May 17, 1878 in Kaposvár, died on September 25, 1939 in Budapest), was a Hungarian painter, draughtsman, illustrator and caricaturist. He was a close friend of the writer Ferenc Molnár, and the character Ernő Nemecsek served as a source of inspiration for him.

Feiks was born the son of Sámuel Feiks and Ida Tiller. He began his artistic training in Paris and later continued it in Munich under the guidance of Simon Hollósy. His humorous drawings initially appeared in renowned magazines such as the “Fliegende Blätter”. He also created impressionist oil paintings.

From the early 1900s, he exhibited together with his brother Alfréd Feiks in Budapest. He was a great lover of social life and painted several important portraits of Gizi Bajor, among others.

Feiks was a member of various international artists’ associations, including the Berlin Secession, the Deutscher Künstlerbund and the Salon d’Automne in Paris. In Budapest, he presented his works four times at the Ernst Museum. In 1926, he founded a free school in Budapest, where prominent artists such as Károly Kernstok, József Rippl-Rónai and Márk Vedres also taught.

On October 20, 1903, Feiks married Anna Maria Magaziner in Budapest, whom he divorced in 1915. On June 10, 1917, he married the actress Margit Lánczy (known as Margit Mária Ilona Prégler after the death of her parents) in Ferencváros, whom he also divorced in 1934.