Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)

Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925

more solid pieces, there appeared new works born in an iconoclast spirit. For example, a recumbent female nude which according to Czóbel’s later recollection, was removed when the then cultural minister, Albert Apponyi, expressed his dislike of it.39 A few days before the vernissage of his exclusive exhibition arranged at Berthe Weill’s gallery, he showed a still-life at another Budapest exhibition.40 Nevertheless, this was presumably not one of his freshest pictures, since they were being displayed at two Parisian venues.

That summer, he did not return to Hungary, let alone Nagybánya. He embarked on a tour to discover the French countryside - reaching, for example, Honfleur.41 Still, we do not know the works he prepared there. Nor do we know those he painted in the autumn in Juziers.42

69. Béla Czóbel: Cabaret Stage in Paris (on the back side ofthe painting entitled Fauve Still-life), 1907. Budapest, Ernst Gallery

68. Béla Czóbel: Female Portrait, 1907. Missing

In the autumn of 1908, he did not display at the Salon d’Automne;43 and the following year, like many of his compatriots, he avoided the Salon des Indépendants. In this, besides the fee for the space, which had been doubled, the fact that the Salons regularly rejected Czóbel’s work could have played a role.

70. The Moulin de la Galette at the beginning ofthe twentieth century, postcard, private collection

36 Burgess, Gelette: “The Wild Men of Paris”, The Architectural Record,

May 1910, pp 400-414.

37 Burgess, Gelette: Lady Méchante or Life as it Should Be: Being Diverse Precious Episodes in the Life of

a Naughty Nonpareille. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1909.

38 Weise, E. [Erich]: “Béla Czóbel”,

Das Kunstblatt, 1920 (4th year), p 114.

39 Horváth 1961

40 [Bálint, Aladár]: “A ‘Műhely’ lakásművészeti kiállítása [The ‘Studio’ House Arts Exhibition]”, Népszava [People’s Word], 4 March 1908, p 5. Az Utak I, p 387. Also: (g.) [Gerő, Ödön]: “A ‘Műhely’ kiállítása” [The ‘Studio’ Exhibition], Pesti Napló [Pest City Journal], 4 March 1908, pp 14-15. Az Utak I, p 388.

41 On 18 July 1908, György Bölöni wrote to Itóka: “I expect Czóbel tonight at my place. Dodo is still set on buying pictures, and Czóbel has come back from the seaside in Honfleur. I’ve written to him that he can clinch this sale.” Bölöni-Itóka, p 54.

42 On 3 October 1908, Czóbel sent György Bölöni a letter from Juziers. Petőfi Literary Museum, Archive, Inv. No. V. 4132/102/3 (György Bölöni’s legacy).

43 After 1908, Czóbel did not exhibit at the Salon des Indépendants until the spring of 1914 (when he did under the name Zobel). In a letter to Béla Lázár, sent 7 April 1912 (Hungarian National Gallery, Archives, Inv. No. 4574/2), he wrote that there was the promise of participating in the Salon d’Automne of 1912. This, however, did not come about.

CZÓBEL FROM PARIS TO PARIS, 1903-1925

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