Gifted illustrator – Istvan Banyai

We were saddened at the Norman Rockwell Museum to recently learn of the passing of gifted illustrator, Istvan Banyai, whom we had the pleasure of working with. I don’t remember when I first saw Istvan Banyai’s art, but the intelligence of his imagery and elegance of his execution captivated me from the start. In his smartly constructed visual world, people move fluidly through time and space, eerily disconnected from one another, and shadows seem to have a mind of their own. Pointed in its commentary, Istvan’s art conveys an air of quiet mystery, and his absorbing illustrations sometimes inspire more questions than answers, a reminder that things are not always what they seem.

Norman Rockwell Museum was honored to present the art of this gifted and prolific artist in 2017. Istvan Banyai: Stranger in a Strange Land celebrated four decades of the artist’s outstanding artistic accomplishment, a part of the Museum’s Distinguished Illustrator Exhibition Series honoring the unique contributions of exceptional visual communicators, presented by the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, the nation’s first research institute devoted to the art of illustration. Istvan’s art was also recently featured in The Lincoln Memorial Illustrated, which opened at the Norman Rockwell and is currently on view at the Concord Museum in Massachusetts. We were fortunate to know and collaborate with this exceptional artist, who holds an esteemed place in our hearts and in the world of illustration.

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett
Deputy Director/Chief Curator

NY Times Obituary – February 18, 2023