VILMOS HUSZÁR

1884 Budapest – 1960 Hierden

BRUSSELS SPROUT PLANT 

pencil on paper, 413 x 205 mm

signed and dated lower left: 21 en 22 . 1920. / V. Huszar 

date: 1920

provenance:

private collection, the Netherlands.

A Brussels sprout plant takes center stage. By depicting it from a low vantage point  Vilmos Huszár positions it prominently within its surrounding landscape. The composition is carefully structured parallel to the picture plane, emphasizing the flatness of the surface. Depth is suggested through the reduced scale of the background elements and the use of lighter, less densely applied line work. Both water and sky are articulated through the deliberate use of the unworked paper, allowing the material itself to function as an active compositional element.

The natural beauty of the Brussels sprout plant’s linear structure and veining may have inspired Vilmos Huszár to extend this rhythmic line work into the surrounding landscape. The drawing’s continuous, flowing lines create a visual unity between plant and environment. Stylistically, the work aligns with Art Nouveau as it developed in the Netherlands, often referred to as the slaoliestijl (“salad oil style”), a term derived from Jan Toorop’s celebrated poster design for Delftsche Slaolie.

Vilmos Huszár (1884–1960) was a Hungarian-born artist who played a significant role in the development of modern art in the Netherlands. Trained in Budapest and Munich, he settled in The Hague in 1906, where he became an active participant in progressive artistic circles. Over the course of his career, Huszár experimented with a wide range of styles, moving from Symbolism and Art Nouveau to Cubism and ultimately abstract geometric art. He was a founding member of the De Stijl movement in 1917, alongside artists such as Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, and contributed to its theoretical and visual language.

In addition to painting and drawing, Huszár maintained a sustained interest in applied arts and design, working across graphic design, typography, furniture, and interior design. This multidisciplinary practice shaped his approach to composition, often privileging flatness, structure, and rhythmic pattern over illusionistic depth. His engagement with design principles may help explain the pronounced planar character of the drawing presented here, in which surface pattern and linear continuity take precedence over traditional spatial recession.

As a European artist, Huszár operated across national boundaries, absorbing and transmitting ideas from major artistic centers such as Budapest, Munich, Paris, and the Netherlands. His work reflects a broader European exchange of modernist ideas in the early twentieth century, in which decorative traditions, avant-garde experimentation, and theoretical abstraction intersected. Through his international orientation and stylistic adaptability, Huszár contributed to shaping a distinctly European modernism that extended beyond national schools or movements.