Pogány, Willy

Pogány, Willy (vĭl`ē pō`gänyə), 1882–1955, American artist, b. Hungary, studied in Budapest, Munich, and Paris. Arriving in New York City in 1914 from England, he soon achieved renown as a designer of stage sets for the Metropolitan Opera and for Broadway productions. His subsequent achievements included murals for theaters, hotels, and business and institutional buildings; book illustration; art direction for Hollywood motion pictures; architectural designs; sculpture; and portraiture. Among the more than 150 books, chiefly for children, that he illustrated were Arabian Nights, Bhagavad Gita, The Rubaiyat (1916), and Willy Pogány's Mother Goose. His films included Devil Dancer (1926) and Modern Times (1936), and among his murals are those in the Children's Theater of the Heckscher Foundation and the building of the Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Power Company. Portraiture occupied much of his last few years; two of his better-known subjects were John Barrymore and Carole Lombard.