Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
91. Béla Czóbel: Nude with Red Turban, 1914(?) / 1910S or 1920s. Geneva, Association des Amis du Petit Palais. Photo: Studio Monique Bernaz, Geneva, not on exhibition although, Czóbel even in 1930 could have sold a work from 1914,1916 or 1918. Still, another source related to Regnault further complicates the problem of dating, suggesting that the picture was displayed in Indonesia in 1936, at the Museum van den Bataviaschen Kunstkring - Twede Collectie Regnault’s exhibition, with a 1916 date.63 Czóbel himself supplies us with an interesting data regarding the nude. “Raynold [regnault] was not an auctioneer [...] he sold mine, too, in Geneva. It was my big picture, the nude. I depicted a doll. There’s a photo of it at Zak’s.”64 He also spoke of this picture in a radio interview: “It wasn’t made after a woman, but a mannequin, a stuffed doll that stood and sat for me.”65 Here the picture entitled Studio with Nude (Nude with Easel), now held by the Czóbel Museum in Szentendre (Plate 89) should be mentioned, in which we see the same stuffed doll, although perhaps in a different studio.The dating ofthis piece isalso unresolved, but we hope to discoverthe time and place of its creation, perhaps in the environment of other works featured in this very exhibition. 60 The painting Studio (In the Room, oil canvas, 60 x 73 cm, signed lower left: Czóbel) turned up not long ago at the Kieselbach Gallery. In style, it differs from the other interior, as well as the nude, much more reminiscent of Czóbel’s style in the late 1920S and 1930S. Still, we must note that he repainted several of his earlier pictures, so evaluations based on style also meet with difficulties. 61 STERREN 2000, P 207. 62 Sterren 2000, p 204. The author notes that, besides the nude, a picture by Czóbel entitled Studio was also in Regnault’s possession. 63 Mimi Kratochwill published an interior photo of the exhibition with the work in question (although under a different title, Standing Female Nude) with this date. Kratochwill 2001, p 27. 64 Horváth 1956. It is certain that Czóbel is referring to his picture Nude with Red Turban. After all, the work did reach Geneva and the famous Ghez Collection in the Petit Palais, where it is held to these days. 65 Ungváry, Ildikó: Interview with Béla Czóbel, 8 September 1973. Hungarian Radio Archive, D 2288/2/1. CZÓBEL FROM PARIS TO PARIS, 1903-1925 67
