Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Mimi Kratochwill: Béla Czóbel's mature period, 1925-1976
6 Their daughter, by then a famous ballet dancer, was put under surveillance by the secret services and they would have recruited her, had she not jumped on the first train to Switzerland, where she lived until the end of the war. During her guest appearances at dance evenings, she had performed with her partner at the Budapest Academy of Music in 1936, where they achieved great success. 7 The models of the 1930s can be recognized in the photographs of Olivier Regnault’s book, Les Lieux de Legende, published in Paris in 2013. of the picture titles, but we know from the literature and from stories that he also painted numerous pictures of the Hatvány children and the staff. In his painting Afternoon in the Garden (1934), a work that was known for a long time from a Chicago collection, he depicted the scene of the family and their friends intimately gathered around a large table exudating a pleasant summer atmosphere. Czóbel included the Hatvan castle in several of his pictures, sometimes showing the main fagade, and at other timesjust a detail becoming visible between the trees of the park; most of these compositions remain latent. We also know of his work entitled Gypsy Row in Hatvan, which is now owned by the Hungarian National Gallery (Plate 247). The little street of dilapidated houses that runs towards the depth of the picture field, together with the colourful ensemble of ochres and greens, and the blue of the cloudy sky suddenlyemerging at the top of the picture are proof of Czóbel’s compositional genius. He brilliantly captured the atmosphere of this town detail and even evoked the presence of a black figure in the work. In general, he used neither sunlight nor moonlight as a source of illumination in his pictures as it is rather an inner radiance of the motifs projected onto the canvas through which he created perfect visual harmony. He also found splendid models among the staff of the castle, such as the cook (Plate 241), the maid and the peasant girl, who, depicted with characteristically Hungarian features and looking somewhat awkward, occupy almost the entire picture field. Czóbel’s pleasant summers were blighted by some painful events. His wife, Isolde Daig, continued to live in Germany and the Hungarian press reported thatthe German authorities had forced her to file for a divorce because her husband was “not of Aryan” origin (even though Czóbel had already converted to Christianity; his godfather was the painter, István Csók). His wife would have lost her job in a prestigious art college so she had no other choice but to submit her divorce papers.6 The summers Czóbel spent in Hatvan were full of events and new acquaintances, and much the same continued after his returns to Paris. For example, in 1932 the reputable Van Leer Gallery organized an exhibition of his works. The legendary art dealer, Van Leer, played a major role in the artistic life of the Montparnasse not only by organizing and hosting shows, but also by throwing evenings that were regarded as prominent social events. The most famous models of the artists’ quarter received invitations to his evenings as did the artists and their friends.7 Van Leer was tied to Czóbel and his Parisian friends in many ways, one of these ties being his daughter’s, Vivien’s marriage to Michel, the son of Dezső Kellermann, another noted art dealer. Czóbel had painted Mon ami Michel (Plate 256), which later became one of his famous works, 240. Béla Czóbel: Watering Girl in Greenhouse, 1930. Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne / Centre de Creation Industrielle 241. Béla Czóbel: The cook, 1930. Budapest History Museum 152 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
