Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: „Csavargó”. Mednyánszky László élete és művészete (Kecskemét, 2007)

September, 1914 he belonged to the Kriegspressequartier (War Press Headquarters) of Vienna and he visited the main seat of war where the army of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fought from Galicia (Psecko) through Serbia and Russia (Gorodistye) to Italy (Isonzo), South Tirol. In the breaks of drawing at the front line he worked on his experiences of war in his ateliers in Vienna and Budapest. As a member of the Kunstgruppe (Art Group of the older and other artists who were not suitable for fighting) Mednyánsz- ky could show these works during the war several times e.g. 8 of his works were exhibited at the ‘Kiinst- lerhaus’ (Artists’ House) in Vienna under the title Kriegsbilderausstellung des k. u. k. Kriegspressequartiers

Erdei séta (magántulajdon)

Walking in the Forest (Private Property)

(War Picture Exhibition of the War Press Headquarters) among 547 works of 40 artists. This was the time when he was really admitted as a figurái painter. Mednyánszky’s enthusiasm towards disasters, as we mentioned already, was continued in the war. His unique relationship with the war is mentioned in several of his letters and diary entries. ‘(...) What I can experience, see and hear here daily is so great, frightening and beautiful that even the greatest playwright could not make his readers understand it.’ ‘(...) I have never seen so many great and interesting things.’ ‘(...) The every day repeating great shooting is exciting, when there is a thunderstorm it is difficult to separate them. ’ Nevertheless the death and the everyday activity of the evil, the ‘memento mori’, the uselessness on the earth and the deformed emotions of the people gave him quite a turn.

On 3rd May, 1917 we can read the following diary entry which can refer to his painting Decay (1917, see on p. 78).’Then comes the serious thing of May, that certain morning in May with the contrast. The main feature of this atmosphere in May is the ecstatic tiredness with death, wound, the beautiful fresh green background with red blood, the fresh colours, warm white and blue air, soft, melting and still something strong. - Wer sacrum. ’ The mythical connection of the nature, the universe and the human beings, the eternal circulation are in the foreground. The two dead soldiers unite with the nature with almost morbid pleasure. The motif of uniting with the environment appears in several other works of Mednyánszky with similar topic, however, it can be well observed on a few works how it is blunted by emphasising the human figure with plastic (Dead Soldier, 1915-1918, see on p. 76) or dark contour (Lying Soldier, 1915-1918, see on p. 77). On his painting Dead Russian Soldier (1914-1918, see on p. 74) the figure of the fallen soldier protrudes into the picture like a shadow. Especially in case of the Decay it can be well observed how through certain motifs - in this case the soldier who is lying on the ground - the contents and the form of the war period is connected to the world of pictures