Biography

Béni Ferency was born in 1890 in Szentendre (city in Pest County). His father Károly Ferenczy was painter, his mother Olga Fialka was also painter so it is not surprising that their son chose the field of art.
He started his studies at the Art Colony of Nagybánya, where István Réti was his teacher. In 1908 he went to Florence for one year, where he studied from Joshep Beer. In 1910 he admitted to the Munich Academy where he was the pupil of Balthasar Schmidt, Émile-Antoine Bourdelle and Alexander Archipenko. Between 1912 and 1913 he studied in Paris.

After almost twenty years living and working abroad, he returned only in 1938 to Budapest. From 1945 for five years he was a professor at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. In 1945 he was elected a member of the Arts Council.

Between 1947 and 1948 he went study to Switzerland and Italy. In the 50s he got by on book illustration. He had a stroke in 1965 and he has got partly paralyzed. At the last decade of his life, he patterned with left hand and died in Budapest in 1967.

As a graphic he is the biggest representatives of the Hungarian art drawing, as illustrator he was also significant activity. He produced a number of watercolors, he mainly painted still lives. His statuettes have monumental vibe. His medal art is outstanding. In his sculpture the neoclassical style dominated. His statues and statuettes are balanced, strong, are close to the world of archaic Greek sculpture.