Man with green hair

SELF PORTRAIT
by DEZO CZIGANY (1909)

The Hungarian press of the time ridiculed the subject of this painting by referring to it as the Green Haired Monster portrait and another painting by the same artist as the Sulphur Yellow Woman. To the technique they gave the label Apache Art.

Fast forward to the era of Andy Warhol and consider, for example, his famous portraits of John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe and you can immediately appreciate how far ahead of the mainstream and the critical climate in  Hungary the progressive artists known as the Group of 8 (see post below) were.

Prior to the first World War in Hungary there was in the minds of those conservative Hungarian art critics, and hence in the mind of the public at large, the requirement to have all the correct colours in all the correct places.

Today, most of us know and appreciate that we live in a shrinking world and that there is a greater need than ever for tolerance and respect for the other fellow whatever his (or her) gender, race, or creed; and that this applies even when the other fellow's hair is green.