Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
In September 1906, Czóbel journeyed again to Paris to display his pictures painted in Budapest and Nagybánya. This was the first time he could present in one room with the Fauves at the Salon d’Automne exhibition. Nevertheless, just because he was presenting in the same room beside Matisse and his Fauve colleagues - as mentioned previously - this did not mean that the works were purely Fauvean in quality. They were much rather tied to Post-Impressionism. The true change would be unmistakably clear only by the end ofthat year and the start of the next one. Presumably, at the time, he could have painted his large canvas (Plate 55) in the Luxembourg Garden, which lay a few paces from his studio. It stands now without a signature (or only traces of one), but I am convinced that it shows some of Czóbel’s most pronounced steps towards Fauvism par excellence, and it invites comparison with Derain’s work from the same period. His next exhibition appearance came barely halfa year later, in the spring of 1907, at the Salon des Indépendants. Among the six works he showed, we cannot identify a single one with certainty. Still, from contemporary criticism and other sources, we are able to conclude that this demonstrated his true Fauve transformation.25 It happened then that the “godfather of the fauves”, Louis Vauxcelles, hung upon him the title fauve inculte - that is “unpolished fauve”,26 and his countrymen also appreciated the genuinely wild turn he had made. CzóbePs older colleague and later godfather, István Csók, for example, informed Lajos Fülep with these words: “Why, here is the future pride of Lipótváros [Leopoldstadt, a district in Budapest], Béla Lázár’s favourite, Zobel [sic!] Last year, he caricatured Rónai, and this year Gauguin. I can say, in this genus, I haven’t seen a more perfect specimen. I won’t try to describe it; it’s impossible. I will only quote André Székely’s statement, »Last year, he was still only a tame lamb (you saw him, too), and this year, he’s a bloodthirsty lion.«”27 52. Béla Czóbel: Sitting Man II (Male Portrait), 1906. La Rochelle, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain -MliQp-c-c п’ДсТ FT n’Ml QTHI D F M ПТ ПМ F Y HI FUTIOM 53. Béla Czóbel: Portrait of Ervin Körmendi Frim, 1906. Budapest, Hungarian Jewish Museum PARIS AND N Y E R G E S Ú J FA L U THE FAUVE PERIOD 46 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
