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William Andrew ("Willy") Pogany (1882-1955) was a Hungarian prolific illustrator of children's and adult books.

Born Vilmos Andreas Pogany in Szeged, Hungary. He studied at Budapest Technical University and in Munich and Paris.^[1] Pogany came to America via Paris and London. In London, he produced his four masterpieces, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1910), Richard Wagner's Tannhauser (1911), Parsifal (1912) and Lohengrin (1913).

In 1918 he illustrated a children's rewrite of Homer, The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy, retold by Padraic Colum.

Pogany's best known works consist of illustrations of classic myths and legends done in the Art Nouveau style. He also worked as an art director on several Hollywood films, including Fashions of 1934 and Dames.

Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest that in America it was po-GAH-ny. "However, in my native Hungary this name is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable with a slightly shorter o and the gany is as the French -gagne (the y is silent)": PO-gahn.^[2]

In his 1952 autobiography Witness, Whittaker Chambers described "Willi Pogany" ("long a scene designer at the Metropolitan Opera House) as the brother of Joseph Pogany.^[3] Willy Pogany sued Chambers for $1 million but lost in court^[4] and appeals.^[5]. According to TIME, "A lower court had found that Chambers, in his mistaken identification, had not maliciously implied that Willy was closely associated with 'a Communist leader and spy'," who had been "once (until Stalin liquidated him) Communist Hungary's puppet Commissar of War."^[6]

References

^ Guide to the Willy Pogany papers at the University of Oregon
^ Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.
^ {{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Whittaker | title = Witness | publisher = Random House | date = 1952 | pages = p 214 | id = ISBN 0895265710}}
^ {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = October 27, 1952 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890408,00.html}}
^ {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = February 14, 1955 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807023-2,00.html}}
^ {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = February 14, 1955 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807023-2,00.html}}

External links

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[1] Guide to the Willy Pogany papers at the University of Oregon

[2] Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.

[3] {{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Whittaker | title = Witness | publisher = Random House | date = 1952 | pages = p 214 | id = ISBN 0895265710}}

[4] {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = October 27, 1952 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890408,00.html}}

[5] {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = February 14, 1955 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807023-2,00.html}}

[6] {{cite news | title = Newsmakers | publisher = TIME | date = February 14, 1955 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807023-2,00.html}}

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 *[http://www.bookillustration.org/journal1.htm Details of a full biography and bibliography]
 *[http://www.bpib.com/pogany.htm A biography]
+*[http://www.spiritoftheages.com/Willy%20Pogany%20Collection.htm Willy Pogany Collection at Spirit of the Ages]
 *[http://www.nocloo.com/gallery2 Children's Book Illustrators Gallery - Illustrations of Willy Pogany]
 *[http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?b=UF00077393&v=00001 ''Willy Pogany Children : Robinson Crusoe'' full text and images online]