Horváth János: A Rippl-Rónai Ödön gyűjtemény, 2002

Kaposvár cultural house..." as the papers wrote. Ödön was appointed a chairperson of Arts Association for his keen organising activity. The plan for building a Culture Palace in Kaposvár could have been crowning of the art life booming in the 1910's. It was the golden age of the two Rippl-Rónais. In the art house on Róma hill there were paintings born with decoratively luxurious tones. Famous writers, artists- Endre Ady, Ferenc Medgyessy, Zsigmond Móricz visited them. Ödön Rippl-Rónai was also prepared for receiving guests visiting his treasures, flejustly hoped that his collection would be housed in the new establishment planned by the town. The WWII cancelled the case of Culture Palace being discussed so long. The "other" Rippl-Rónai tried to found a museum on his own. The Somogy Mews published an article about the private museum in April 1912. "There are 400 paintings arranged with taste in six rooms crammed together." Ödön Rónai stated: "This collection is a fruit of thirty years made up during my travels through Europe with affection and passion, not sparing time and energy. The fact that I did some painting myself, my brother's art and my friendship with other artists enabled me to have a look into some artists' intimate life. That is how I could obtain pictures reflecting the artists' spirit. I arranged all these intimate pictures in a gallery according to my personal views. They are 400 pieces in collection made by well-known Hungarian and some French artists: paintings, statues, and carvings. This article highlighted some painters and titles informing us about pieces missing and existing today. 5mall pictures by Ranson, Maillol, Vuillard, Charlemontfrom the French collection partly exist even now. It mentioned 40 paintings by József Rippl-Rónai without titles. We can identify Károly Ferenczy, István Csók, János V/aszary, Károly Kern5tok, Dezső Czigány, and Lajos Gulácsy existing important pictures. The Rákóczi march by Simon flollósy, the Mihlbach by Pál Szinyei-Merse were mentioned The landscapes by Bertalan Pór, The woman playing the piano by Ödön Márffy, The big nude by Bednar and the Queen Elisabeth by Lajos Márk were not enlisted into the legacy. Some pencil drawings and drafts as by old masters were mentioned: Károly Marko, Sándor Liezen-Mayer, Károly Lotz, Mihály Munkácsy and Bertalan Székely. Making the inventory, enlisting according to author, title, technique and size were postponed by the collector till the last hour. Me thought more important to look after locating the collection and its future. The number of the collection was doubled in his last years. There was a devaluation of money; consequently he started to swap his homebred chicken into paintings with artists from the capital. Ödön'5 health was undermined by his surplus in weight and high pressure. At the age of 55 he thought it was time for him to make his Last will. In his Will signed on 30 August 19Z0 he donated his collection to the County, fie asked his brother's help in sorting out and enlisting the legacy. Me died on 3rd January 1921.The Somogy Mews published his Will titled" Ödön Rippl-Rónai's Legacy". "The correctly enlisted pictures, statues and folk handcrafts in my house in 1000 pieces approximately, I donate hereby to Somogy County as Rippl- Rónai Museum, but under the following conditions: The County is obliged to maintain the museum in good state, my stepdaughter, Katica Szabó who looked after the museum with great care, will be in charge of a warden at the payment of at least 1000 K. monthly.../The County is obliged to expand the collection at least by 5000 K. Worth annually by young Hungarian painters' work not included in my collection.../"The historical hardships have caused unfortunate losses, butsince that time in the collection representing the modern Hungarian painting from the turn of the century. But its valuable core fortunately has been saved. They can be seen on the permanent exhibition of RipplRónai Museum. In our book enclosed we would like to give information on these unique pieces of art known only by a few. Ripll-Rónai József: Ülő akt (Fenella gitárral), 1910. Tusrajz, RRM. Tulajdona 51