Horváth János: Kunffy Lajos - A somogytúri Kunffy Emlékmúzeum katalógusa (Kaposvár, 2005)

WE QUOTE KUNFFY'S OWN WORDS: ,With beautiful Parisian impressions and with the seccess that 1 experienced in the salon with my first painting, 1 travelled home to Hungary in a good mood and with theplan that during the summer 1 would paint a real plein-air picture. That is how the Water-Carrying Boy was born at Galosfa. I drew it thoroughly and the sunshine became expressive on the canvas. I exhibited it, together with the painting exhibited in Paris, at the autumn collection in the old Műcsarnok in Budapest. This was my first exhibition in Budapest" the artist tells us in his memoirs, written when he was eighty In 1895 Kunffy went to Munich, where he started again to work in a studio. He painted a large canvas on a biblical theme, entitled Job, for the contest called „the Thousand Year Old Hungary" Int this exhibition an extraordinarily large number of artists were represented, and this painting was exhibited in the company of Munkacsy's works because it shared with them some similarities. Later Kunffy reflected on it this way: „I regretted the Munich intermezzo because it jerked me back to a darker, more depressed painting. If I were to have stayed on in Paris at the age of 24, my painting, without a doubt, would have gravitated toward lighter, fresher colors." In 1897 at the urging of his parents, he returned home for a year and a half to complete his legal studies, and then returned to Paris. He travelled to the seashore where he painted the Secessioniststyle picture called On the Coast of Brittany in 1898. It is a work typical of its time, and beautiful. In recent years it was shown at many international exhibitions. Of the paintings painted in Paris, the Arguing French Priests (1899) brought him much success, as it was exhibited in the new salon. The picture showing a night scene, technically, is similar to works by Rippl-Ronai during his „black period." In those days these two artists from Kaposvár often got together. Kunffy came home to his father's estate in Varga in the summer of 1899 and he immersed himself in the life of the little village and painted its inhabitants. His palette became increasingly more colorful and lighter. Kunffy took up residence in Budapest in 1900 because he liked the effervescent artistic atmosphere of the capital city It was at this time that Albert Berzeviczy addressed Parliament and harshly attacked the new artistic directions underway Kunffy responded by publishing his „reflections" in the Műcsarnok art magazine. He defended, with sharp logic, the freedom of modern art as a reflection of the general contemporary spirit. „The art of every epoch is exactly as it deserves... There could be mistakes in contemporary art, but they will find their roots in society Among the elements of our society, it is precisely the artistic group which does not deny itself and fights with courage for the truth..." This writing of his, which we offer just two brief excerpts of, could have been the guidelines for rejuvenating artistic life at the begining of this century We see at age 31, Kunffy was commanded by high ideals. In 1901 he married the beautiful and cultured Ella tiller. After their wedding trip to Italy, they settled down in Paris. Here their son was born in 1902. 66