Anton Prinner (1902 – 1983) artist, sculptor

Anna Prinner was the only daughter of four children of an accountant father and a pianist mother. She studied at the University of Fine Arts School in Budapest. In 1926 two of Prinner's paintings were by error hung in the Fine Arts Museum and were a great success.

Prinner moved to Paris in 1927, taking a male name and from then wearing male clothes, a beret and smoking a pipe. Picasso would greet him as "Monsieur Madame". Anton had a constructivist period from 1932, and a figurative period from 1937. He did his first wooden sculpture in 1940, a medium that he so made his own that Picasso called him the "petit pivert" (little woodpecker). Himself only 1.5 metres, he carved statues up to five metres high.

Anton spent most of the German occupation in hiding. In 1950 He settled in Vallauris, close to Antibes and to Italy, as had Picasso. He made ceramics and sculptures, including esoteric statues and protective deities. After 1954 Prinner discovered a passion for ancient Egypt and esotericism. He did an androgynous female Pharaoh, and a female Buddha.

However, exploited by the owner of the studio and robbed by others, he abandoned sculpture. He wrote in an autobiography: "Je veux faire des choses qui ne plaisent à personne pour éviter qu'on ne me vole" (I want to do things that please nobody, so that I will not be robbed).

He returned to Paris, and to painting, in 1964, and was exhibited. However he died in poverty at age 81. Prinner never returned to Hungary except for a quick visit in 1930, and never discussed his gender change.

• Anton Prinner. Le livre des morts des anciens Egyptiens.. 1948.
  
• Anton Prinner. La femme tondue. Paris: APR, 1946.
  
• Anton Prinner & Lionel Le Barzic. Le Tarot ésotérique et poétique de Prinner: et le développement scientifique, poétique, anecdotique de la cartomancie. [S.l.]: Édition Aujourd'hui, 1976. Anton Prinner,. Anton Prinner, 1902-1983. Paris: Binoche et Godeau, 1985.
  
• Anton Prinner & Philippe Rollet. Anton Prinner: (1902 - 1983); [cet ouvrage est édité à l'occasion de l'Exposition Anton Prinner, présentée au Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix des Sables d'Olonne du 1er juillet au 1er octobre 2006 et à l'Institut hongrois de Paris en 2007]. Paris: Editions du Panama, 2006.
  
• Anton Prinner & Benoît Decron. Anton Prinner: [exposition présentée au Musée de l'abbaye Sainte-Croix des Sables d'Olonne du 1er juillet au 1er octobre 2006 et à l'Institut hongrois de Paris en 2007. Paris: Panama, 2006.
  
• Cserba Júlia. "Anton Prinner különös világa". Artmagazin, 2007/2:78-80. www.artmagazin.hu/artmagazin_hirek/anton_prinner_kulonos_vilaga.994.html.
  
• Florence La Bruyere. "Anton Prinner, entre mystère et ésotérisme: Le musée Ernst de Budapest rend hommage à l'enfant du pays, qui se choisit un prénom masculin". Libération Culture, 7 mai 2007. www.liberation.fr/culture/2007/05/07/anton-prinner-entre-mystere-et-esoterisme_92262.
  
• "Déplacements à l’abbaye Sainte-Croix". Animula vagula, 25.01.2008. http://animulavagula.hautetfort.com/tag/anton+prinner.
  
• Gál-Szende Gabriella. "Egy nő, akinek elhitték, hogy férfi". Folium Verde, február 15, 2015. www.foliumverde.com/egy-no-akinek-elhittek-hogy-ferfi.
  

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