Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
BERLIN “I left the Netherlands for Berlin. My wife was in town and I had already a studio there.” - Recalled Czóbel of the time, which marked the dawn of an era at least as successful as his Fauve period.85 His wife, Isolde Daig - or, as she was called then, Isolde Zobel86 - had already been living in Berlin with their daughter, Lisa, even during her husband’s years in Bergen. They only spent summer holidays together in Belgium. After the last summer in Bergen, Isolde moved to Berlin a few weeks beforehand and rented out a studio at 85 Königgrätzer Strasse for Czóbel, who soon busied himself with work. 114. Béla Czóbel: Flute Player, 1917. Missing 85 Horváth 1961 86 In the case of her letters, she used her husband’s name, more often writing Zobel, although the correct version, Czóbel, also turns up. 87 Iván Dévényi wrote about this, citing the two artists’ letters written to art historian Philipp Clarisse. Dévényi, Iván: “Czóbel”, Jelenkor [Present Time], 1963/7, pp 160-164. Unfortunately, the content of these 115. Béla Czóbel: Studio Corner with Furnace, 1919. Missing letters is unknown. Scheffler, Karl: “Kunstausstellungen”, Kunst und Künstler, February 1925, Heft 5, pi95. The summary on Czóbel by В. É. [Bajky, Éva] in: A magyar grafika külföldön. Németország 7979-7973 [The Hungarian Graphic Artist Abroad. Germany, 1919-1933]. An exhibition based on the Hungarian National Gallery’s collection of graphic works. Békéscsaba, Mihály Munkácsy Museum; Szombathely, Savaria Museum; Szolnok, János Damjanich Museum; Nyíregyháza, András Józsa Museum; Salgótarján, Sándor Nógrádi Museum; Budapest, Petőfi Literary Museum; Berlin, Haus der Ungarischen Kultur. Budapest, 1989-1990, p 34. Here, he found himself amongst friends again, in the company of Hungarian and non-Hungarian artists, who had been his intellectual companions for many years, even from a distance. An entire Hungarian ‘diaspora’ was then taking shape. Among the artists, many of whom were forced to emigrate after the failure of the Soviet Republic in Hungary in 1919, there were also those whom he had met before, mainly in Paris. There were also members of The Eight who persisted in considering Czóbel as one of them. Hence, he encountered Róbert Berény, LajosTihanyi and Károly Kernstok frequently during his years in Berlin, too. For Czóbel, however - just as in Paris - the community that mainly inspired him was not made up of Hungarian colleagues. While, in Paris, he joined the Fauves at the front ranks of the avant-garde; in Berlin, he formed an ever closer relationship to an Expressionist group, Die Brücke which can be regarded as the German equivalent to the French Fauves. Regrettably, there is only sparse data regarding this collaboration; however, we know, for instance, that Erick Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were friends with Czóbel,87 and this relationship soon resulted in a series of joint exhibitions. In any case, the members of Die Brücke undoubtedly had an influence on Czóbel’s stlye. A few years later, a local journalist compared the Hungarian 80 CZOBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
