Veszprémi Nóra - Jávor Anna - Advisory - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2005-2007. 25/10 (MNG Budapest 2008)

STUDIES - Jenő MURÁDIN: Count Géza Teleki and the Transylvanian Connections of the Artists' House

tions fitting his rank there. He had seen the 1909 MIÉNK exhibition in Kolozsvár, made some acquisitions there, and had the impression that the audacious experiment by the organizer György Bölöni had in fact, for all the animosity it aroused, broken the ice, and the new experiment bid fairer prospects. So the Bölöni scenario was copied every bit. The exhibition was promoted by posters stuck up throughout the city, notabilities came to the vernissage, several matinee lectures were held on the development of modern Hungarian painting.

18 The difference was that the Artists' House set up country sections and recruited supporting members. These campaigns, however, occasioned a number of abuses, and got several well-meaning organizers in rather embarrassing situations. Visiting from his Alsózsuk estate, Géza Teleki set out to organize the exhibition in Kolozsvár, and start the recruiting of members. Though Miklós Rózsa had an astonishing talent for making contacts, Count Teleki was of great service to him. For, as opposed to Bölöni 's intentions, he sought to win over not only the middle classes but also influential members of the aristocracy of the city. The tactical idea was to obtain confidence from a wider circle of the middle classes. By the time director Miklós Rózsa and secretary Elemér Kónyay arrived in Kolozsvár in the middle of June (to be later joined by vice-chairman Béla Iványi Grünwald), everything had been arranged. With Count Teleki chairing, a preparatory meeting was held on establishing the local section, with Rózsa outlining the concept. A day before the opening of the exhibition, on June 24, the statutory meeting of the section was held. Teleki was the first speaker in front of a large audience assembled in the city hall. "All gentlemen and ladies with a clean name belonging to the society of Kolozsvár," paper reports stated, "who wish to participate in the labours of the Artists' House will be accepted as members."

19 The cause seemed to be so sublime that Félix de Gerando of Le Figaro, Paris (related to the Telekis by marriage) made an enthusiastic closing speech calling on everyone to take up membership.

20 Lord Lieutenant Count Kálmán Esterházy was elected chairman, while Count Pál Bethlen, Countess Polixéna Nemes, Imperial and Royal Chamberlain Endre Dózsa, and historian Lajos Szádeczky were elected to vice-chairmanship. Respected members of the city aristocracy and upper middle class were selected to be on the board. The Kolozsvár painter Ferenc Ács and a bank cleric, Béla Kun (later to become the leader of the Republic of Councils), were appointed as curators (the role of the latter shall be discussed below).

21 In the meanwhile, the exhibition was being arranged feverishly. The walls of the spacious assembly room of the county hall (the monumental building with a tower designed by Ignác Alpár) were covered with brownish red drapery for hanging the 178 paintings and drawings brought for the show. On June 25, after a word of welcome by Count Géza Teleki,

22 Mayor Géza Szvacsina opened the exhibition, which the public could visit for three weeks (until July 17). Paintings of lesser size and merit were selected for the exhibition. The MIÉNK show had probably been able to present a more unified body of works. Nonetheless, there certainly were a number of museum worthy masterworks, and a number of artists, József Rippl-Rónai, Károly Ferenczy, Béla Iványi Grünwald, Adolf Fényes, Károly Kernstok, displayed excellent pieces, though Szinyei and Mednyánszky were rather under-represented. Ernő Tibor and István Balogh stood for the Nagyvárad artist community, Ferenc Ács, the pioneer of Transylvanian plein-air painting, for that of Kolozsvár. No catalogue was published for the show, but two significant critical articles by Dr. Hugó Lukács and Aladár Bodor

23 provided important and valuable pieces of information. Dr. Hugó Lukács, a physician who had treated the poet Endre Ady, was an ardent enthusiast of modern art, and supported this Kolozsvár display just as he had the MIÉNK show. He gave a lecture at the July 3 matinee of the Artists' House with the title "Artists and the Public." The exhibits divided the art-loving public of the city just as much as those of the MIÉNK display arranged by György Bölöni had done a year earlier. Organizers and exhibitors alike received both hailing backing and reviling rejection, but there even were acquisitions, though not too numerous. According to press reports, Count Miklós Bánffy, Reformed Bishop Béla Kenessey and Dr. Hugó Lukács bought (unidentified) pictures,

24 and Mayor Szvacsina acquired three etchings of Kolozsvár street scenes by Dezső Tipary for the municipality.

25 The Nagyvárad show of the Artists' House fully emulated the Kolozsvár one. It was preceded by a similar membership recruiting meeting in the middle of August. Except for the paintings that had been sold, the pictures were transported at the same time. The material was then eked out by a number paintings of Lajos Gulácsy and, after the opening, by a few of József Egry's works. A large-scale (2><2 metre) cartoon for a fresco in the Nagyvárad palace of Imre Darvas by Jenő Remsey, who belonged to the Gödöllő school, was also on display.

26 The exhibition was opened by Lord Lieutenant Endre Hlatky of Bihar County. Visits were especially fostered by the matinees at which members of the modernist Holnap (Tomorrow) Circle, Gyula Juhász, Tamás Ernőd and Ákos Dutka lectured. CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE, PROMISES UNKEPT The storms around the running of the Artists' House reached Transylvanian quarters even before the artists' club and gambling scandals broke out. The reason being that promises were not fulfilled. From the outset, it struck some as suspicious that supporting members were recruited through unlimited promises made to them. It was pledged that whoever paid the annual 20-crown membership fee could participate in the drawing of lots arranged by the society. "The society will draw enough artworks," so said the rosy promises, "for all members to receive one every year. The most valuable prize will equal 1000 crowns, but even the least valuable prize will be worth double the annual fee. [...] Members of the Artists' House Society shall also be given, apart from the prizes, subscriptions for the illustrated magazine Modern Art."

21 Obviously, none of this could ever have been kept. To no avail did members wait for the fulfilment of promises. What is more, it was not only a handful of people who felt deceived. In Kolozsvár, 218 people joined the Artists' House Society, while 230 in Nagyvárad. At the end of September, 1910, the Kolozsvár press reported that a police investigation had begun against the society in matters of accounting regarding the "private dealings of Miklós Rózsa and Elemér Kónyay".

28 Feelings that had been given vent to by conservative circles regarding the exhibition now ran