Gosztonyi Ferenc - Király Erzsébet - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2002-2004. 24/9 (MNG Budapest, 2005)
NEW ATTRIBUTIONS - Róbert Berény: Children in the Garden, 1906 (Gergely Barki)
by Rudolf 'Berény and not Róbert Berény 12 . Below are the correct entries for Róbert Berény from the catalogue of the Salon d'Automne in 1906": BERÉNY (ROBERT), né à Buda Pesth. Hongrois. Chez M. Castelucho, 4 bis, rue de la Grande-Chaumière. 137. - Portrait de mon Père, p. 138. - Enfants dans le Jardin, p. 139. - Portrait de l'Écrivain KM., p. 140. -Esquisepour un portrait, p. It is obvious that the title of the painting listed at number 138 corresponds to the title of our painting. The Paris deposit stamp on the stretcher of the painting further supports the supposition that our painting was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. The wild colours of the Berény pictures of a year later are not given their full force yet, but Children in the Garden, with its relaxed technique, its sketchiness and its powerful application of homogenous colour patches can be considered the immediate prelude to the artist's fauve period. Its recently discovered close parallel, Ball Players, was probably painted a year later during the summer holiday at Tótfalu 14 . Róbert Berény's work had a profound influence on Hungarian painting in the first half of the 20th century, and we can only hope that Children in the Garden will soon be exhibited at a forthcoming exhibition, finally, as one of Róbert Berény's paintings. NOTES 1 Nagybánya művészete (The Art of Nagybánya), Hungarian National Gallery, 14 March 14-20 October 20, Szombathely Gallery, 6 January 6-15 March 15, 1997. Repr.: Cat. p. 468, No. 14. 2 See the catalogue of the Nagybánya jubilee exhibition: A Nagybányai Jubiláris Képkiállítás katalógusa, Nagybánya, 1912, p. 81. 3 R.: A HÁZ, 1909, p. 223. Whereabouts unknown. 4 R.: A HÁZ, 1909, p. 222. Whereabouts unknown. 5 Rezső Bálint: Futuristák és expresszionisták a Nemzeti Szalonban (Futurists and Expressionists at the National Salon). A Kéve könyve Hl (Kéve Yearbook), 1913, n.p.; Róbert Berény: A Nemzeti Szalonbeli képekről (On the Paintings at the National Salon). Nyugat, February 1, 1913, pp. 197-198. 6 Berény Róbert Berény: Szalmakalapos önarckép (Self-portrait in Straw Hat), 1906, oil on canvas 59.5x44.5 cm, signed lower right-hand corner: Hungarian National Gallery inv. no.: 56.208 T. 7 Berény Róbert: Szalmakalapos önarckép (Self-portrait in Straw Hat), 1906, oil on canvas 59.5x44.5 cm, signed lower right-hand corner: Hungarian National Gallery inv. no.: 56.208 T. 8 See e.g. the review printed in Kolozsvári Hírlap, May 30, 1909. Cited by Krisztina Passuth: A Nyolcak festészete (The Painting of The Eight). Corvina, Budapest, 1967, p. 65. 9 The whereabouts of the painting is currently unknown, disparate data have been published concerning its size, material and signature: 'Róbert Berény: House with a Garden, 1906, oil on cardboard, 38x50 cm, signed lower right-hand corner: Berény Tótfalu 1906', catalogue of the 53rd BÁV Auction, 1980; and 'House with a Garden, oil on canvas, 40x50 cm, signed: Berény 1906 Tótfalu. The estate of Imre Oltványi.'. Berény Róbert emlékkiállítás (Róbert Berény Commemorative Exhibition). Hungarian National Gallery, 1963. Cat.: p. 17. 10 Imre Oltványi-Ártinger: Berény Róbert. Magyar Művészet, 1936, p. 67. 11 Béla Szíj published the following mistaken data concerning Berény's participation at the Salon d'Automne in two studies (Berény Robert életútja gyermekéveitől a berlini emigrációig [Róbert Berény's Career form his Childhood to the Emigration Years in Berlin]. Bulletin de la Galerie Nationale Hongroise, 1963/4, p. 124; Robert Berény, Acta Históriáé Artium, 1966/1-2, p. 201): 'Catalogue Illustré du Salon de 1906. Le 1er Mai 1906. 139. Berény (R) Portrait du Marquis Costa de Beauregard. 140. Mme P..., étude' 12 Rudolf Berény, an academic artist living in Paris, stood for a quite different conception of art than did the modernist Robert Berény. They were nevertheless regularly confused even in the writing of the day. Cf.: L.K. [Károly Lendvai]: Külföldi krónika — Párizsi levél (Foreign Chronicle - A Letter from Paris), Művészet, 1907, p. 199 . 13 Catalogue du Salon d'Automne, 4me Exposition, Grand Palais, Paris, Oct.-Nov. 15, 1906, p. 6. 14 Bárki Gergely: Berény Róbert: Labdázok, Kieselbach Galéria Téli Aukciója (The Kieselbach Gallery Auction), Cat., 2002, pp. 232-233.
