Navigating the Middle Path

Like many painters from Eastern Europe who studied in Paris during those golden years of the 1870s, Lajos Deák-Ébner wanted to apply the achievements of the plein-air tradition without giving up the disciplines of accurate drawing, storytelling, and multi-figure composition.

Lajos Deák-Ébner (Hungarian, 1850-1934) Return of the Harvesters

The artist in France who exemplified this middle path was Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), who was an inspiration to many regional juste-milieu movements (the term means 'middle path' or 'happy medium'), not only in Hungary, but also in Spain, England, Scotland, and America.

The figures in Deák-Ébner's painting are painted with life and light, and they're developed like characters in a play: a woman with hands on her hips argues with a young man, and a young woman cradles a sheaf of grain in her apron.
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Lajos Deák-Ébner on Wikipedia
Previously: Juste-Milieu