Ervin Baktay | |
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Born | Ervin Gottesmann 1890 |
Died | 1963 |
Occupation | Writer, painter |
Subject | Indology |
Relatives |
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Ervin Baktay (1890–1963; born Ervin Gottesmann[1]) was an author noted for popularizing Indian culture in Hungary.[2][3]
Baktay had started his career as a painter[4] and he encouraged his niece Amrita Sher-Gil to pursue art.[5] He gave up painting to study eastern religions and art, and became a renowned Indologist.[4]
Ervin Baktay was born on 24 June 1890 in Dunaharaszti, on the Pest side of Budapest.[5] He was the youngest of five children of Raoul Gottesmann and his wife Antononia Levys-Martonfalvy.[6] Following the death of his father in 1905, Baktay's mother decided to move to Austria and then to Zebegény, Hungary, at the onset of the First World War.[7] He studied painting with Simon Hollósy in Munich.[8] Later, in 1927, he made his first journey to India.[9]
He was uncle to artist Amrita Sher-Gil and nephew to Nagybánya artist Alfréd Gottesmann (1872–1965).[citation needed]
Baktay translated the Kama Sutra in 1920 and then published a version of the Mahābhārata in 1923.[10] In 1960, he produced a version of the Ramayana.[10] His major work, History of Indian Art, was published in 1963.[8]
Baktay died in 1963.[8]