Zwickl András szerk.: Árkádia tájain, Szőnyi István és köre 1918–1928. (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2001/3)

TANULMÁNYOK - ANDRÁS ZWICKL: The Pictures of the Ideal and the Real - The Arcadia Painting of the Szőnyi Circle

28 Aba-Novák's written notes also confirm that he had experimented with graphical prints already before he joined Olgyai's class (B.Supb I960, p. 26.). 29 The exceptions include Imre Nagy and Gyula Derkovits, who took part in the exhibition already as early as 1920. When it came to exhibitions, Szőnyi led the field for a long time: four of his compositions were shown by the Szinyei Society at their first exhibition in 1922; in 1925 he had fifteen of his works shown at the exhibition organised for the winners of the Society's Award, and he also took part in KUT s second exhibition with three of his compositions. 30 At the exhibitions held in the National Salon in the first half of the decade only Paizs Goebel was present with one or two works individually; Jeges and Deli each showed a larger collection of their works under the aegis of the "Bicske artists colony"; in the framework of two group exhibitions held in 1 924 Hugójohan and Antal Deli were able to display more than seventy works each. Although the Szinyei Society was formed in 1 920, its first exhibition took piace in 1 922, while the second was held in 1 926. Since only members were invited to both, Szőnyi alone represented the young generation. Aba-Novák became a member of the Szinyei Society as late as 1928. Following the first presentation of its award-winners in the National Salon in 1925, the Society annually organised its Spring Salon for young talents; almost all the young artists who represented the neo-classical movement were present here. We can find young representatives of the neo-classicist school also in the more conservative societies of less recent origin: the art group Kéve showed the works of Paizs Goebel, Deli, Korda and Barcsay, among others; Ernő Jeges exhibited with the László Paál Society, an organisation founded in 1 92 1 . 31 Aba-Novák showed his graphical works and Ernő Jeges his paintings in Ernst Museum in 1922; in 1923 Antal Deli and Erzsébet Korb had opportunities to show their works to the public; and in 1924 Szőnyi had the entire museum for himself, when his restrospective exhibition was held there. After this the other young representatives of the neoclassicist tendency all had opportunities, often more than once, to show larger collections of their compositions (Patkó, Paizs Goebel, Barcsay, Nándor Lajos Varga, Jenő Tarjáni Simkovics). 32 Jenő Bálint opened the Helikon Gallery in 1 922, together with Lajos Dénes, who later became the editor of the magazine KUT; the "exhibition salon" functioned until 1 923 (initially at 44 Dohány Street, and then, after October 1922, at 30 Váci Street); during 1923 and 1924 Jenő Bálint was in charge of the artists organisation Alkotás Művészház, which was located at 1 1 Kossuth Lajos Street. 33 During its existence ( 1 921 -1 924), Belvedere organised exhibitions for a number of artists, who represented the neo-classicist movement at the time: in late 1922 Derkovits had an exhibition here, and in early 1923 Jándi - jointly with Schönbauer - showed his works to the public. 34 The bookshop Mentor took over this function next. The bookstore, which was in business between 1922 and 1930, organised several graphics exhibitions between 1923 and 1925 for the younger representatives of Neo-Classicism, such as Szőnyi, Aba-Novák, Patkó, Tarjáni Simkovics and Derkovits, for example (Csaplár 1996). 35 In association with the exhibition held in 1 997 at the Museum Gallery of Pécs and entitled Journeys from Arcadia to Utopia, a couple of studies were published in Jelenkor about the Pécs Artists Circle (Bajkay 1997, Várkonyi 1997). The artists of Pécs had earlier come into contact with the art of Fiatalok: Jenő Gábor began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in 191 1/1912, at a time when Uitz also attended the institution. Furthermore, he studied at the Kecskemét artists' colony in 1912, when Kmetty also worked there (Sümegi 1996. p. 28). 36 At the moment the direct, personal contact between the Szőnyi circle and the Pécs Artists Circle has not been confirmed by evidence, nevertheless it seems likely that they knew each other. Patkó and Henrik Stefán were both admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1914, and Jenő Gábor also studied there during that academic year; Patkó's exhibition at the Belvedere in 1922 featured a drawing entitled Houses in Pécs, and an early drawing by Henrik Stefán was found in Aba-Novák's collection. 37 The presence of the Pécs artists in Budapest can be verified for the period following their return from Germany. Hugójohan took part in the National Salon's exhibitions on several occasions after 1924. Farkas Molnár had two of his paintings shown at the second exhibition of KUT\n 1 925. After that he gave up painting and became, as one of the heads of the Hungarian group of CIAM, a leading figure in modern architecture between the two world wars. Of the Pécs The academic research in preparation of the essay was sponsored by RSS artists, Jenő Gábor was the only one who didn't traveled abroad in the 1 920s; his art ran parallel course with that of the Szőnyi circle's members. 38 In her monograph of Derkovits, Eva Korner dedicated an entire chapter to Arcadia painting, outlining the preliminaries and the development of this topic from Hans von Marées, through Cézanne and Puvis de Chavannes right down to the painting of the Nyolcak [Az Árkádia-festészet mint nemzetközi és előzmény és kortárs [sic!], Korner 1968. pp. 48-51). 39 The Bicske artists colony was founded in 1921 following the invitation of Gyula Batthyány (Bodonyi 2001) the works produced here were shown at the National Salon in the following year (1922 National Salon - Spring); in 1923 the members of the Bicske artists colony exhibited in the Ernst Museum (1923 Ernst XXV). The fourth artist on the list was Alajos Parobek who visited Nagybánya in 1914, at the same time as Szőnyi, Patkó and Pándy did. 40 Many of the subsequent founders of the artists' colony were working at Szentendre as early as in 1 926: besides Jeges, Henrik Heintz and József Bánáti Sverák were among them. All the founding members had been students of Réti's: Miklós Bánovszky, Bánáti Sverák, Heintz, Jeges, Béla Onódi, Paizs Goebel, Pándy, László Rozgonyi. Incidentally, Paizs Goebel and Bánáti Sverák also turned up at the Miskolc artists' colony of the Academy of Fine Arts, under the direction of Ágost Benkhard (Károly Lyka: Művészeti Krónika, MM 1929/2., p. 1 15.) 41 The list of artists who came to Zebegény after 1928 included Róbert Berény, Imre Szobotka, Aurél Bernáth, Károly Patkó, Vimos AbaNovák, Géza Vörös, Jenő Medveczky. Jenőné Elekfy: Tizennégy nyár Zebegényben, Zebegény, 1970; Áron Tóbiás: Nyár Zebegényben, Móra, Budapest, 1982. 42 On the Felsőbánya artists colony see: Murádin 1 972. Imre Nagy, their old friend who had studied with them in Olgyai's class at the beginning of the decade, also planned to join them, but by the time he arrived at Felsőbánya, later than agreed, they had all gone home (Imre Nagy 1983. p. 1 19.) According to Kelemen's recollection, they stayed at Felsőbánya between May 15 and October 10. (Zsolt Kishonthy-Jenő Murádin: Nagy Oszkár, MissionArt Galéria, Miskolc, 1993. p. 24.). 43 Four of Korb's compositions were reproduced in the Nude Album (Lyka 1 926b); Szőnyi was represented with two works, Aba-Novák, Patkó and tarjáni Simkovics with one work each. 44 The year 1 925 was a momentous one on more than one account: it was the year when the Kunsthalle of Mannheim organised the exhibition Neue Sachlichkeif, which would later provide the label for the movements of New Realism in Germany; in Paris an international show of applied art similarly became the christener of a new style, one that also had classicising elements: the Art Deco. The Szinyei Society organised a comprehensive Hungarian exhibition in London and launched the art magazine Magyar Művészet, which published articles in its first year not only on the Nude Exhibition (Ödön Gerő: Az akt-kiállítás, MM 1925/7. pp. 369-392.) and the etching generation (Elek 1925), but also on two of the major figures of Italian Neo-Classicism, Ubaldo Oppi and Felice Casorali (Alessandro de Stefani: Két fiatal olasz festő, MM 1925/6. pp. 328-338). 45 In addition to the participants of the summer session at Felsőbánya Aba-Novák, Patkó, Fonó, Kelemen and Bánk - the artists' group was complemented with Jenő Barcsay, Jenő Medveczky, Eszter Mattioni and Jenő Tarjáni Simkovics. 46 On the relations between the Neo-Classicism of the Szőnyi circle in the 1 920s and that of the "Rome School" see: Zwick! 1 999b, Szűcs 1 999b 4Z Genthon 1935. pp. 2Z0-273. 48 Fhe first attempt to distinguish between the Neo-Classicism of the 1 920s and the 1 930s respectively has been made by Eva Korner (Korner 1963. pp. 8-1 1.); the first person to construct a basis for such a distinction has been Magdolna B. Supka (B.Supka I960, p. 51, p. 103). In her Derkovrs monograph (Korner 1968. pp. 56-78.), Korner Eva dedicated an entire chapter to the phenomenon. Julianna P. Szűcs, the monographer of the "Rome School", also makes a firm distinction between the two kinds of Neo-Classicism (P. Szűcs 1987. pp. 36-38, and also Julianna P. Szűcs: Az idézőjel csapdája. Néhány gondolat a római iskoláról, in: Az idézőjel csapdája, Magvető, Budapest, 1989, pp. 5-39.). 49 On the "Rome School": P.Szűcs 1987, and 1989; Zwickl 1998. 50 Kállai 1925. p. 77, p. 75, p. 76. 51 Genthon 1935. pp. 271-272. (Research Support Scheme) ref. no. 839/1996.