Desiderius Orban: an Australian romantic

Desiderius Orban (1884-1986) was born in Hungary. He had been a successful painter and teacher in his country of origin and came to Australia in 1939 as a mature and formed artist. He gained recognition in the Sydney art circles relatively soon after his arrival, had a large number of exhibitions, took part in numerous competitions, became a member of various art groups. Orban published three books and ran an art school from 1941 until his death in October 1986. In an unpublished autobiography written in 1965, Orban commented about his artistic career: I always had doubt of my achievements. From nature I am sceptical towards my ability. I feel that my progress was a slow but a steady one. From the beginning my intellect played more important part than my emotions. On the other hand nearly all of my paintings have a romantic hint. This contradiction puzzled me a lot. I tried to fight against this romanticism without any success. Apparently my subconscious and my conscious mind disagree. In his teaching and writings Orban pursued the idea that a creative mind is a mind free of prejudice. In his paintings however, he was unable to flee from the restrictions of conventionalism until the 1960s Orban's desire to translate his creed into artistic terms was hindered by technical limitations. In Orban, the distinction between aesthetic thought and method of expression had produced a constant struggle that resulted in decades of influential romantic teaching and accomplished rather than distinguished middle-of-the-road painting. The denouement of this struggle was achieved in the latter part of his lit when Orban abandoned his semi-illusionist methods. Orban's threefold career as a painter, writer and teacher, was intertwined and has to be viewed in the context of Hungarian and Australian art and thinking, as well as politics and perceptions