A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1983-84 (Debrecen, 1985)

Művészettörténet - Bíró Lajos: Fine Arts in Debrecen between the two World-Wars

Bíró Lajos FINE ARTS IN DEBRECEN BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD-WARS In his survey the author lay stress upon the activity of the fine arts organizations in the period (The Association of Patrons of Art of Debrecen, The Association of Artists and Designer Artists of Debrecen, the fine arts department of the Ady Society and the Ajtósi Dürer Guild), those significance in Debrecen and in Hungary, and within their frames he analysed the work of the most outstanding artists and the important events in the fields of fine arts in Debrecen in the period (the business of the colony of artists in the Hortobágy at the end of the 20s, the fresco competition to the crematorium and the sculpture competitions in the 30s, the public's taste in fine arts and the official patronage of the town authorities as well as the role of the local press in backing up the modern tendencies of fine arts). By way of introduction the author refers back to the activity of the first two decades of The Association of Patrons of Art. In his opinion the repressed position of the association was advantageously modified after the political changes of the first world-war by those tendencies which aimed at converting Debrecen into an important cultural centre of the eastern part of Hungary. In this period generations of artists alternated each other in the association and this caused a two-faced artistic character within the organization. One side was characterized by a historical academic art and naturalism wich rooted in 19th century fine arts and was supported by the policy of culture (Sen. Kovács János, Istvánffy Gyula, Pálffy József, Dienes János, Király Jenő) while the other side was a Hungarian version of modernism, which was represented by the young (Balczer György, Hrabéczy Ernő, Senyéi Oláh István, Holló László, Gáborjáni Szabó Kálmán). Both tendencies had their firm basis in the contradictions of the social structure and the eclectic pretensions of the people at large. The young belonged to that generation of Hungarian artists which learned from Hollósy Simon to reject the inanimated and stiff artistic principles and which returned home from Western European study tours to work in Hungary. Their individual styles formed gradually, they aimed at increasing the expressive force of their works and rejected academic uniformity. Their appearance was a characteristic feature of the fine arts in Debrecen at the beginning of the 20s and for all the dominance of the academic mediocrity in the collective exhibitions in the town, their aspirations denoted the spreading of modern art in Debrecen and practised decisive influence on the cultural life of the town between the two world-wars and longer. At the same time the public's interest in fine arts exhibitions was moderate in the town

: the Middle Classes sank into poverty and hardly purchased pictures, private collections did not have traditions in the town and the town museum as well as the official patronage of the town authorities could not do more than guarantee exhibition halls for the artists. Fine arts seemed to be pushed out to the periphery of local policy of culture. As an example for illustrating this situation the author expatiated on the activity of the so-called Artists' House, which was brought about by the first self-supporting organization of artists in Debrecen, namely, The Association of Artists and Designer Artists of Debrecen coming about in 1924 and working on only two years and a half in very bad financial conditions. Yet, its importance was decisive in the cultural life of Debrecen in the period because local fine arts activity took shape and became deeply rooted by its activity. During these years the members of The Association of Patrons of Art parted

: the young, who separated from conservatism, had to defend their aspirations against the mediocre majority of the association and to captivate the public for their modern art. For this they had to fight collectively. The Ady Society, which was born in the summer 1927, gave a good opportunity to form their group. This was a literary and artistic association which assumed the progressive program of modernity and quality in arts

: in this they followed the mentality of the Nyugat, the Szinyei Association and the New Society of Artists (KUT). The fine arts department was founded by Holló László, Medgyessy Ferenc, Senyéi Oláh István and Gáborjáni Szabó Kálmán and in the following four years it also 321