Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
142. BÉLA CZÓBEL, LlTTLE GIRL WITH Birdcage, 1921. Szentendre, Ferenczy Museum 108 I am grateful to Andrea Dunai for directing my attention to this valuable data. 109 Szentiványi Gyula: Lexicon Collection (op. cit. in note 106). 110 The following pieces are mentioned in the catalogue: No. 18: Blick durch das Fenster; No. 19: Porträt und Bücherregale-, and No. 20: Am Nächtisch (Freie Secession, E. V. Katalog, Frühjahrsausstellung, Februar-März 1923, Gemälde/Platik) 111 Bajkay, Éva: “Magyar és német kapcsolatok Matisse nyomán [Hungarian and German Relations in shown there, one of which is missing. However, based on the reproduction, it is one of Czóbel’s most interesting primitivist pieces. It was exhibited under the title Kind mit Schaukelpferd (Child with Rocking Horse), and it was reproduced in the catalogue (Plate 144).108 His ars poetica noted down by Gyula Szentiványi in his biographical collection is relevant at this point. “His [Czóbel’s] principle is the following: to re-evaluate the forced style assembled from others, and to start everything from scratch. Though this, he has formed a connection with the direct decorative Expressionism of children’s paintings and the primitive.”109 He had exhibitions in November of 1921, then both in the autumn of 1922 and 1923 at the Jurifreie Ausstellung (jury-free exhibition), which followed the example of the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. Yet, as a member of the Freie secession, he also took part in the society’s other exhibitions. For example, in their exhibition of 1923, he had three of his pieces exhibited110 - one of them under the title Porträt und Bücherregale, which was probably identical to the painting known today as Portrait of Mr Meyer, held in the Czóbel Museum of Szentendre (Plate 132). According to Éva Bajkay’s hypothesis, the model for this portrait was Julius Meier-Graefe111 - the highly influential, world-famous German art historian, who was born in Hungary. Czóbel’s landscape entitled Blick durch das Fenster (Plate 137), which is still missing today, was also part of this exhibition. According to the newspaper which covered the show, the painting belonged to the Ferdinand Möller Gallery.112 It may be no accident that, after the exhibition which lasted from February until March, Czóbel also showed his work at Möller’s - who, by the way, was the director of the Freie Secession. The exhibition of the Kreis der Brücke at the Galerie Ferdinand Möller lasted from March until April 1923. This exhibition took for granted that Czóbel, who has lived in Berlin for four years, was not only following the same path, but was indeed a member of the circle. His uniquely primitivist, decorative and expressive paintings were displayed near the work of Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and many others. Some photographs of the interior of the exhibition survived (Plate 130), but we still have not located any which shows Czóbel’s paintings.113 His works were exhibited in Möller’s gallery in 1927, too, when he was not living in Berlin any more, but in Paris again.114 Czóbel continued to send his paintings for exhibitions at the Berliner Academy of Art, Akademie der Künste, held every half year. In fact, similarly to the Möller Gallery, his work continued to be present at exhibitions even when he had already lived in France again for two years.115 During the exhibitions at the academy, he once exhibited in the section of the left-wing Novembergruppe.116 Nonetheless, his temporary membership in this group was probably only formal. Whether in Berlin, the Netherlands, Paris or at home, politics and public life did not interest him. 143. Béla Czóbel: Still-life, around 1922. Missing 144. Béla Czóbel: Child with Rocking Horse, 1921. Missing 96 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
