Csányi, Károly (1873 - 1955)

Like other members of his generation who later achieved fame (e. g., Károly Koós and Lajos Kozma), Csányi studied architecture at the Budapest University of Technical Sciences, graduating in 1896; nevertheless, in his career he moved beyond the confines of his academic qualification. He first attracted public attention in 1901 as one of the authors of the book on the newly-built Parliament building, and also as a graphic artist. His bookplates and illustrations were regularly published on the pages of the periodical Magyar Iparművészet after 1902, when he took up a job at the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts as an advisor. His versatile talent showed itself in fields outside the graphic arts. He was an art expert in the finest sense of the word. He worked at the Museum for over thirty years, right up until 1932, when he began to teach the history of Mediaeval architecture and applied art to a new generation of architecture students. His work in applied graphics (among others areas, book covers and bookplates) is also worthy of note.