Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
96. Béla Czóbel: Amsterdam, 1916. Private collection, not on exhibition The composition Golgotha (Plate 93) - so far misdated to the 1920s, but in all certainty painted earlier, around 1916 - was not inspired by any old Dutch master, but by Delacroix (Plate 92).69 Nonetheless, he found themes not only in museums. As in his previous periods, he painted streets and cityscapes. Such is a picture that turned up at an auction a few years ago. It depicts one of Amsterdam’s small canals and its houses from 1916 (Plate 96). Also recently rediscovered was the Interior Detail with Vase (Plate 97). Painted in Amsterdam, the subsequent title is a mere speculation. Indeed, the difficult-to-identify object seen on the right-hand edge is an ambiguous element in the picture.7°This deliberately mystifying technique becomes a typical peculiarity of Czóbel’s later works. Luckily, however, the work is dated, since its enigmatic nature poses an interesting contrast to the stark concreteness found in this period’s principle work, the Boy with Ball (Plate 103), painted in the very same year. On the one hand, it preserves the memory of the primitivist Fauve period in Paris; on the other hand, it points the way to a new period of sharp Expressionism in Berlin. In contemporary reproductions, we can clearly see that Czóbel wrote his name then (too) with a “z”. Later, he completed it with the accustomed “c”. In 1917 he already took part in Dutch exhibitions. At the Sphinx Group’s first exhibition organized in Leiden, he displayed three works,71 with the Portrait de Fiile (Portrait of a Girl) among them. Supposedly, this picture is identical with the water colour that depicts his daughter, Lisa (unfortunately now lost), that was reproduced in Mimi Kratochwill’s monograph (Plate 100).72 In May and June, the Ninth Exhibition of the Dutch Independent Artists (Onafhankelijken) was held in Amsterdam, where four Czóbel pictures were shown; at the Tenth Exhibition in September, he contributed three works.73 Additionally, in October, he participated in the first exhibition of the De Branding Group (formed in 1917); however, at that time, he was no longer working in Amsterdam, but in Bergen. 69 I hereby thank Julianna Ágoston and Vilmos Tátrai fortheirhelpin identifying the presumable model. 70 In 1920, Czóbel appeared at the exhibition organized at Paul Cassirer’s (see later) with a 1916 still-life entitled Stilleben mitTeekanne, which could be the same as the work in question. Thus, the unidentifiable object could be a tea kettle. 71 For this information, see Sterren 2000, p 213, note 31. 72 Kratochwill 2001, p 26. It must be noted that Mimi Kratochwill identified the word “Bergen” in the picture’s signature. 73 For this information, see Sterren 2000, p 213, note 35. CZOBEL FROM PARIS TO PARIS, 1903-1925 69 97. Béla Czóbel: Interior Detail with Vase, 1916. Private collection
