I have two large oil paintings,very boldly signed by Nandor (with
accent over the "a"). They are large: 38x36 and 36x30 inches. Subjects
are still life arrangements(vases, fruit, painted pitchers,cactus or
flower buds buds with chinese/oriental suggestions). Both were given
to my parents as a
wedding gift close to 60 years ago.All family members or friends who
might have given these gifts were from the New York City area.Who is
this painter,Nandor ? (Please provide sources for any references)

Dear rico18-ga
On this forum trying to identify an artist without seeing the painting
or the signature is difficult, but I believe your artist is Nándor
Mikola. He was born on November 27th, 1911 in Budapest, Hungary.
There are three other artists named Nandor but they seem not to have
used the accent, and at least one did not sign in the name Nandor.

Nándor Mikola studied at in Budapest and Vienna and then moved to
Finland in 1933. His first exhibition was in 1943. In the following
years his work then became very popular. In 1995, Mikola opened his
own museum in his hometown of Vaasa, Finland and 1979, Nándor Mikola
was awarded the honorary title of Professor of Arts by the State of
Finland. He has also been decorated with a high medal of honour by the
State of Hungary.
His full biography which is on the museum site is
http://www.mikolamuseo.com/html/professor_of_art.html

Please go to the home page of this site where in the top left hand
corner is a copy of his signature (date unknown). It is very strong
and has the accent above the 'a'.
http://www.mikolamuseo.com/index.html 
If this is not similar to the signatures on your paintings then please
post a clarification and I shall ask for this answer to be removed.

Most other websites referring to him are in Finnish and they can be
accessed using the links below in the search strategy.

answerfinder-ga

Search strategy
Nandor OR Nándor painter OR painting
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Nandor+OR+N%C3%A1ndor+painter+OR+painting

Nándor Mikola
mikola nandor
://www.google.com/search?q=mikola+nandor&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

---

Request for Answer Clarification by rico18-ga on 21 Dec 2002 16:19 PST

Thank you for your response. I have reviewed the website and emailed
for more information and verification. Can you provide more details on
the other Nandors referred to in your initial response. Connecting
these works in New York City the mid 194-'s with a Hungarian / Finnish
painter, then 30 years old, raises further questions. (War time
refugees and transportable valuables ?)
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Richard

---

Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 23 Dec 2002 03:26 PST

Dear rico18-ga 

Since I posted the answer I have become aware of a site which has a
database of artist’s signatures. For a small fee per visit you can
examine the signatures of various artists. All of those detailed below
(with the exception of the Nandor I discussed in my first research)
have their signatures on the site. It may be worth a visit. I have
never used the service myself and cannot vouch for it.
http://www.signaturehelp.com/

The other artists that I researched were also Hungarian. (It appears
to be an Hungarian first name). I cannot find genre paintings similar
to those in your possession. I have since eliminated another artist
refrerred to earlier as I now find he was born in 1951.

Nandor Lajos Varga 1895 – 1978
The works I have found all appear to be in pen and ink.
A signed self-portrait with signature appears on:
http://www.nextra.ro/cd/cd1/siklody/VargaNL.html
A translation through http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran

Works which appear to be pen and ink appear on:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/neoklass/html/z_es/index_re.html

Ink? c.1923 on
http://www.alleskunst.net/kunstsuche_detail.php?ArtID=2589

Ink
http://www.arkadia.mng.hu/html/tanulman/3kep.html

Ink
http://www.arkadia.mng.hu/html/terem/0504.html

Search terms
Nándor Lajos Varga
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=N%C3%A1ndor+Lajos+Varga


Nandor Katona  aka Ferdinand
 1864 – 1932
Biography (try the above translation engine):
http://www.fsz.bme.hu/mtsz/mhk/csarnok/k/katona.htm

The description of this landscape painting refers to an artist’s stamp
on the back of the painting. Has yours?
http://www.p4a.com/itemsummary/105062.htm

Landscape - oil on wood
http://www.texan.net/art/katona.htm

Next one is only through the Google cache
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:UKjsxh6lm5oC:www.starozitnosti.host.sk/ponuka_diel.htm+%22N%C3%A1ndor+Katona%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

This is only a reference to a landscape painting (no image)
http://www.wofford.edu/sandorteszlerlibrary/entire.htm

Search strategy
Nándor Katona
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=N%C3%A1ndor+Katona
"Nandor Katona"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Nandor+Katona%22
"Nándor Katona"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22N%C3%A1ndor+Katona%22&btnG=Google+Search


Nandor Vydai (Vidai) Brenner 1903 - 1944

Image (1st in list)
http://www.ohayonantiques.com/showcase/painting/

Woodcut
http://www.judaica.hu/nov2001/paintings.htm

Search strategy
Nandor brenner
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Nandor+brenner
Nándor vidai brenner
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=N%C3%A1ndor+vidai+brenner


I hope the above is of use to you. As I indicated, it is very
difficult trying to identify the artist without seeing the painting or
signature but please do not forget my comment in my first research if
you are not satisfied with this research: “If this is not similar to
the signatures on your paintings then please post a clarification and
I shall ask for this answer to be removed.”

Regards
answerfinder-ga