Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Mimi Kratochwill: Béla Czóbel's mature period, 1925-1976
274. Béla Czóbel: Still-life with Statue Head, 1930s. Debrecen, Antal-Lusztig Collection 275. BÉLA CZÓBEL: INTERIOR WITH A FIGURE SITTING IN ARMCHAIR, AROUND 1940. PRIVATE COLLECTION He was enchanted by the beautiful Hungarian spring and could hardly wait for the winter to end so he could move out into the little town. As we know from his writings, he found accommodation on the Török (Turkish) Hill. The name of this place is given to one of his pictures, entitled Törökvölgy (Turkish Valley) In Szentendre, showing a view of little houses nestled between trees and bushes (Plate 281). The intermittent glimpses of the soft blues of the sky fill the trees and the road, and even the tiny dots of the walls of the houses with light. The artist embraced his new life, grew ever closer to his fellow artists and, finally, found Mária Modok, his future love, who in the meantime had divorced her husband. They decided to marry. On New Year’s Eve of 1940 they were joined in marriage in Szentendre in the presence of two witnesses, Dr Ernő Lányi and Mária Modok’s brother. They were awaited in Pest in the Central Café by József Egry and the painter János Kmetty.11 Czóbel immortalized their marriage with a little drawing. In 1945, as a sign of recognition, his fellow artists voted for Czóbel to become the president of the Szentendre Painters’ Association. Czóbel accepted this happily because he professed the town not only to be his place of residence but also his home, and held the serious artistic aspirations of his fellow artists in high esteem. He was also selected to be a regular member of the Budapest National Salon Artist Association, and in 1948 he became its committee member. On the other hand, an old friend of his in Paris, the art writer, György Bölöni, regarded it also important that Czóbel’s name should not be forgotten in the French capital either. In an exhibition that opened on 4 May 1945 four works of Czóbel were exhibited alongside those of several Hungarian 11 In the “New Year’s Eve Stories” column of a daily paper dated to 31 December 1968, it was reported as an interesting event, that on this day in 1940 Czóbel and Modok were married. (Pestmegye/ Hírlap / Pest County Gazette). On the previous page: 270. Béla Czóbel: Sitting Woman (Woman Combing her Hair), around 1935. Private collection 271. Béla Czóbel: Woman at the Piano, around 1932. Private collection 272. Béla Czóbel: Reading Woman, around 1940. Budapest, Artchivum Art Historical Documentation Research Institute 273. Béla Czóbel: Nude from the Back, 1941. Budapest, Gábor Kovács Collection. Photo: KOGART Archives BÉLA CZÓBEL’S MATURE PERIOD, 1925-1976 171
