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

NEW ACQUISITIONS, NEW RESULTS - Éva BICSKEI: On a Journal Illustration by Bertalan Székely

slightly sideways; and their particularly exciting, dynamic silhouette with an outline widened when overshadowed. Székely placed the models on pedestals and chose a somewhat lower point of view, thereby creating a monumental effect that gave the impression of completeness to the statue models, in order to convince the readers of the publication to endorse the project. All these characteristics appear in the wood engraving of the Petőfi statue model, as well.

11 The fact that so many sketches and drawings by Székely have turned up in the Izsó estate can be explained by their friendship going back to their studies in Munich.

12 Moreover, both of them were teaching at the Drawing Teachers' Training College, founded in Pest in 1871. Székely headed the department of figure drawing, Izsó - the department of sculpture, and Morelli - the department of xylography. The teachers - according to a ministerial report were actively promoting "a more lively connexion and co-operation" between students of the various departments (for example, Székely's students produced drawings for Morelli's students).

11 It therefore does not seem to be an exaggeration to speak of a workshop-like cooperation among three outstanding artists of the period: the sculptor Izsó, the painter-draughtsman Székely, and the wood engraver Morelli. Although short-lived, due to Izsó's untimely death, this collaboration marked a peak in the history of Hungarian periodical illustration, elevating an allegedly "minor" art to a status of excellence. The re-identified work, in view of its technique, is thus not only a fine example of the few extant drawings for periodical illustration by Székely or a document of a friendship and a particularly fortunate collaboration, but it provides deeper insights into an artistic practice marginalized in art history. NOTES 1 Below right: Izsó Miklóstól / a Petőfy szoborhoz / első gondolatok. / 860-ban [By Miklós Izsó / for the Petőfi statue / first ideas. / in 860]. 2 Szana, Tamás. Izsó Miklós élete és munkái. Budapest: Athenaeum, 1897, pp. 105-116; Weiss, Anna. Izsó Miklós élete és művészete 1831-1875. Budapest: Pápai, 1939, pp. 75-78. 3 -á-r- [Szász, Károly]. "A Petőfi-szobor terve, Izsótól." In: Vásárnapi Újság, 1873, no. 1, p. 4; Szana. op. cit. (see Note 3), p. 108; Weiss, op. cit. (see Note 3), p. 76. 4 "Petőfi szobra. Izsó Miklós tervvázlata szerint." Engraved by Morelli, Gusztáv. In: Vasárnapi Újság, 1873, no. 1, p. 5; -á-r- [Szász, Károly], op. cit. (see Note 3). p. 4. The reproduction of Izsó's model was regarded as a "befitting commemoration", idem. "Petőfi születésének ötvenedik évfordulóján." In: ibid., p. 2. 5 "Izsó Miklós Széchenyi-szobormintája - (Székely Bertalan rajza után)." Engraved by Rusz, Károly. In: Vasárnapi Újság, 1866, no. 15, p. 177; "Csokonai szobra, Izsó Miklóstól. - (Fénykép után Székely Bertalan)." Engraved by Rusz, Károly. In: Vasárnapi Újság, 1866, no. 52, p. 633 (Reprinted in: ibid., 1871, no. 42, p. 521); "A haldokló honvéd - (Izsó Miklós szobormüve után)." Engraver unmarked, the draughtsman given in the table of contents: "Sz. B". In: Vasárnapi Újság, 1870, no. 1, p. I. Székely made drawings of Izsó's works for other weeklies, too: "Székely Bertalan rajza. Gróf Széchenyi István. Izsó minta-szobra." In: Magyarország és a Nagyvilág, 1866, no. 15, p. 228. 6 "Gróf Batthyány Lajos szobra, Alexytól. - Fénykép után (Székely Bertalan)." Engraved by Rusz, Károly. In: Vasárnapi Újság, 1867, no. 14, p. 157. 7 Johannesson, Lena. "Pictures as News, News as Pictures. A Survey of Mass-reproduced Images in 19

,h-Century Sweden, Visual Paraphrases." In: Ellenius, A. ed. Studies in Mass Media Imagery. Acta Universitatís Upsalicnsis. Figura Nova Series 21. Uppsala, 1984, pp. 19-21; Bicskei, Eva: "Egyszerű és kedélygazdag kis képek. " Székely Bertalan korai sorozatai. Ph.D. Dissertation, Budapest: ELTE BTK, manuscript, 2003, pp. 124-139. 8 Bicskei, op. cit. (see Note 7), pp. 124-139. 9 Bicskei, Eva. "... álomszerű merengésben. " Székely Bertalan Női élet sorozata Szada: Székely Bertalan Műteremház, 2004. 10 HNG Department of Prints and Drawings, inv. nos.: 1914-207, 1

914-156, 1914157, 1914 158. Even the monographer of Izsó, Gertrúd Goda had not accepted the latter as a work of the sculptor, stating, his idea "was presumably pencilled by Bertalan Székely". See Goda, Gertrúd. Izsó Miklós szobrászi életútja. Miskolc: Herman Ottó Múzeum, 1993, cat. no. 100 (the second model for the Petőfi statue), p. 78. 11 By comparing the drawings and wood engravings with the extant models, it can be established that Székely kept Izsó's proportions and details. The wood engraving of the model for the stame of Petőfi, however, cannot be identified with the bronzed plaster cast (Rimavská Sobota. Gemersko-malohontské Museum, inv. no. 1057/64). It may therefore be surmised that the print faithfully documents a model lost today - even though the shaping of the head obviously comes from the marble bust on the other side of the sheet. 12 See the so-called "juvenile" diary of Székely in the Department of Prints and Drawings, HNG, inv. no.: 1915-1760 fol. 66 verso (133); as well as: Soós, Gyula ed. Izsó Miklós levelel. Budapest: Múzeumok Központi Propaganda Irodája, 1958, pp. 72, 82. 13 See the ministerial report: A vallás- és közoktatásügyi m. kir. ministernek a közoktatás 1872. évi állapotáról szóló s az országgyűlés elé terjesztett jelentése. Budapest: M. Kir. Egyetemi Könyvnyomda, 1874, p. 141.