Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
PROBLEMS OF DATING PARIS OR THE NETHERLANDS, PERHAPS BERLIN, OR AGAIN PARIS? Works from his last years in Paris are also completely unknown, except for the paintings entitled Bistro in Cormeilles and The Parson at Noisy-le-Grand (Plates 83 and 86).5S Of his works brought out for his last Parisian exhibition, at the Salon des Indépendants in 1914, only their titles are known. However, his important, quintessential picture Nude with Red Turban (Plate 91) appears in several places in the scholarly literature marked with the year 1914. Moreover, it was displayed during 88. BÉLA CZÓBEL: Studio, 1910s or 1920s. Private collection 89. Upper right, Béla Czűbel: Studio with Nude (Nude with Easel), 1910S or 19203. Szentendre, Ferenczy Museum 90. Right, Béla Czóbel: Studio (In the Room), 1930s. Private collection, not on exhibition 58 Both works are dated to 1913 in the Czóbel monograph. Kratochwill, pp 23, 84. 59 Everywhere, even on a sticker affixed to the back of the work, it appears with the date 1914. However, in her book about Czóbel, Clarisse Philipp assigns the year 1926. Philipp, Clarisse: Czóbel. Budapest: Corvina, 1979, Plate io. Czóbel’s lifetime with this date.59 We have no information as to where the work was produced, but two Czóbel interiors are also known to us which, in all probability, present the same studio (Plates 88 and 90). In general, it is hard to date Czóbel’s work; the origins of all three paintings are problematic. The studio space in question is reminiscent of the arrangements in a French atelier, so it is conceivable that all three were made in Paris. Nonetheless, on the basis of style elements from a later period, it is also possible that Czóbel painted them in 1925, when he moved back to Paris.60 Among the controversial sources with regard to the nude, the first - insofar as it refers to the work in question - is a terminus ante quem of 1918, when his painting entitled Fille au Beret Rouge (Girl in a Red Beret) was shown at a De Branding art group exhibition in the Netherlands.61 This would seem to support an earlier origin, perhaps while he was still in Paris. If this title does indeed referto the work, it is still unsure whether it was prepared in Paris or already in Holland. According to another source, a distinguished Dutch collector, P. A. Regnault (1868-1954) bought the picture known today as Nude with Red Turban, though not in the Netherlands, but in 1930 in Paris and from Czóbel’s studio.62 This latter piece of information does not support the early dating -66 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
