For over half a century, art by the Makks has touched the hearts and minds of viewers around the world. Their work has been the focus of numerous major public exhibitions, including Carnegie International Center (NY), U.S. Senate Rotunda (Washington, D.C.), Monaco Intercontinental Exhibition (Paris), St. Stephen Museum (Hungary), and many other museums and galleries in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Japan. A collection of Hungarian historical paintings by Americo and Eva Makk,...
The Makk family, Eva, Americo, A.B. and Sylvia, is known as “the first family of the art world.” Eva Makk has been called “the world’s foremost living impressionist painter.” Her husband, Americo Makk, is an internationally acclaimed master painter and the portrait artist of two United States presidents. Their son, A.B. Makk, is an international award-winning painter of sparkling water scenes and sublime landscapes.
For over half a century, art by the Makks has touched the hearts and minds of viewers around the world. Their work has been the focus of numerous major public exhibitions, including Carnegie International Center (NY), U.S. Senate Rotunda (Washington, D.C.), Monaco Intercontinental Exhibition (Paris), St. Stephen Museum (Hungary), and many other museums and galleries in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Japan. A collection of Hungarian historical paintings by Americo and Eva Makk, which, for nearly twenty years, toured museums and public venues in the United States and Europe, was recently awarded a permanent home in the Museum of Hungarian Military History, a national museum in Budapest.
Americo and Eva Makk are also among the world’s most respected portrait artists. Notably, Americo Makk was selected to paint portraits for the U.S. White House of President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Princess Kyoko Osano of Japan and President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan are among the many dignitaries who have selected Eva Makk to create their portraits.
Like Michelangelo, Eva and Americo Makk have achieved a place in art history for their legacy of murals. Working jointly since 1950, they have created murals in sixteen cathedrals and churches on two continents, a feat unequaled by any other artist in our time.
Americo Makk was born in Hungary. While studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome he met his future wife, Eva, who was continuing her studies there following her graduation from the Fine Art Academy in Paris. The Makks moved to Brazil in 1949, and their reputation as brilliant young artists spread quickly throughout the nation. They were appointed as professors at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sao Paulo, and later were named Official Artists of the Brazilian Government. Among their many commissions was an unprecedented two-year trek deep into the rain forest to paint the Amazon Indians. Their son, A.B., was born in Brazil. In 1962 the Makks moved to New York, then in 1967 they moved to Hawaii where they currently reside.
The Makks’ careers have continued to rise, with exhibitions around the globe and dozens of awards and honors, including American Ecclesiastic Award, European Banner of the Arts and Oscar d’Italia. Today their art is prized by collectors and exhibited worldwide.
Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.
Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.
Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.
Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.
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