Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
50. Béla Czóbel: Oktogon Square on 15 March, 1906. Private collection snow fell in Budapest on the ides of March in 1906, but by the dawn of 16 March, it melted in the sudden heat.20 We also know the Budapest address of Czóbel’s mother: l7ATheresian Ring [Teréz körút], 3rd floor. In light of the view and this background information, it is evident that the painting was born on 15 March 1906, at the window of this flat in Budapest, overlooking the Octogon square. Two weeks later on 2 April, Lisa, his first and only child, was born in Bamberg. We do not know if Czóbel travelled from Budapest at that time to meet his wife, Isolde Daig, the Dutch painter he had met in Nagybánya, and his newborn daughter, but it is certain that on 1 May he was in Budapest.21 During this probably almost a quarter-year residence in Budapest, it is very likely that he could have painted the imposing full-length portrait that immortalizes his brother-in-law, Dr Béla Réh (Plate 54), which evinces not only the inspiration of Paris, but also the influence of József Rippl-Rónai.22 In May 1906, Czóbel presumably took these freshly painted Budapest pictures with him to Nagybánya, together with the works sent from Paris by György Bölöni upon the closing of the Salon des Indépendants.23 These paintings of his ignited such a significant revolution at the painting colony that the scholarly literature identifies it as the birth of the so-called Neo movement. Unfortunately, we only know with certainty of a single available painting of his (plate 56) that was born in the summer of 1906 in Nagybánya. Additionally, we have knowledge of a drawing in which he made caricature-like sketches of his friends from the colony (Plate 19).24 there in the summer. What’s new in Paris? Are you working a lot? I greet little Frim. Farewell till we meet again, Béla Czóbel. Budapest, 33 Kertész Street, 2nd floor.” Czóbel’s postcard from Budapest to György Bölöni, 6 May 1906. Petőfi Literary Museum, Archive, Inv. No. V.4132/102/1 (György Bölöni’s legacy). Although Czóbel’s message is not completely clear, we can conclude from it that Czóbel had Bölöni send the pictures in question. Indeed, he mentions an unidentified exhibition in London where a Czóbel work was featured. 24 The Czóbel Museum in Szentendre holds a picture entitled Village Street (Ferenczy Museum, Szentendre, Inv. No. 80.20), bearing a mark with the date 1906. The authorship has been questioned; however, in my opinion, this picture is also the work of Czóbel and the fruit of his summer spent in Nagybánya in 1906. CZÓBEL FROM PARIS TO PARIS, 1903-1925 45 51. Béla Czóbel: Paris Street II, around 1906. Budapest, Ernst Gallery
