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

TANULMÁNYOK - FERENC ZSÁKOVICS: "The Young Hungarian Etchers" - The Renewal of Graphical Art after the First World War

follows. "It was a tremendous experience; I equipped myself with two magnifiers and looked at things from a close range, and I feel that this was the first time that I could truly appreciate Rembrandt's greatness. (...) The Hundred Guilder Print was underneath the slanting glass, and that was where I went first. Well, the reproductions at school are pale copies of the original thing. Christ is wonderful; his head is not like that of a mortal man, it is amazing, and the light is reflected in his eyes, but it is so fine that you need a magnifier lens to see it. It is interesting that the old man touched it up with a burin in some places. Actually, he applied the dry-point technique in many instances, for example his etching Three hiuts is almost entirely dry-point."

30 In his essay Uj grafikák (1926), Károly Lyka called attention to the young generation of graphic artists' "orientation towards new classicism," which meant "a deliberate abandonment of naturalism proper, a strive for organic and formal composition, the cult of plain and clear-cut forms, an emphasis on the essential, the dropping of fioriture, the simplification of the means of expression..."

37 Their admiration of old art, most notably the art of the great Renaissance and Baroque masters, and Michelangelo's influence in particular, formed the basis of these tendencies on the one hand

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, complemented with the Avant-garde artists of the 1910s, the classicising tendencies of the Eight and the Activist whose influence could still be felt in the 1920s. ' "In Szőnyi's workshop, for a short while in his days, and as a fleeting episode, artworks, primarily etchings, were born one after the other, many of which were nude compositions with much emphasis on large forms and plasticity. Huge bodies formed the subjectmatter of the composition, with the smaller details being gradually left off, while the enormously developed forms dominated, which were enveloped by simple outlines and were plasticised and emphasised by carefully controlled light and shades."'

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" In their drawings and etchings of biblical and mythological themes, István Szőnyi, Vilmos Aba-Novák, Károly Patkó, Jenő Tarjáni Simkovics and Nándor Lajos Varga carried out compositional and formal experiments. Their immediate predecessors were the Fiatalok (Hetek) who had been active in the 1910s; the parallels are especially apparent between the drawings of Béla Uitz and József Nemes Lampérth and the early graphics of Szőnyi and Aba-Novák.'" "Pál Majovszky approached me to ask you, on his behalf as well as in the name of graphic artists, whether you would be kind enough to write a comprehensive, characteristic and beautiful article for the magazine Magyar Művészet about the young generation of graphic artists, Szőnyi, Aba-Novák, Varga, Komjáthy, Simkovits, my students in whom you take such an earnest interest anyway," Viktor Olgyai wrote in a letter to Artúr Elek. The master commended his most talented students to the critic.

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" The lavishly illustrated article, which came out in the autumn of 1925, was the first comprehensive essay about the Young Hungarian Etchers graduating from Olgyai's class/'' "The young artists whose art will be discussed below belong to one group on the basis of the shared inspiration and artistic ideals: briefly in accordance with the external and internal characteristics," Artúr Elek pointed out at the beginning of his article. He considered István Szőnyi to be the major figure and the leading character of the small group. In his opinion "Szőnyi the graphical artist regarded Rembrandt as his great inspirer, and il was through Szőnyi's mediation, through his example and successes, that the next generation of graphic artists followed suit. (...) His example aroused the others and, according to chronological evidence at least, the recent great upswing of Hungarian graphical art originates from his appearance on the scene."'""' The author also called attention to the significant differences that existed between the artistic temperament and attitude of the young artists. He considered the painterly qualities and plastic expression as the most important assets in Károly Patkó's case, whose compositions "presented human figures, floral formations and atmospheric phenomena alike in a plastical manner reminiscent of sculptural representation. Of all the young artists, ne is the one who represents the observance of classical examples in the most consistent way." Especially in his nude compositions, "he reminds us of the neo-classical ideal that seems to be, after the prolonged rule of naturalism, the only paragon worthy to follow."

45 In sharp contrast with Patkó's works, in AbaNovák's impassionate etchings "the sweeping power contends with artistic considerations. This enormous energy prefers large sheets and compositions of large format. (...) An artists of plain language and almost barbarous energy, he is a rebellious spirit who, in his agonised exaltations, sees a distorted view of the world and all its phenomena." Jenő Tarjáni Simkovics was "an eminently talented composer who grouped his figures with a lavish of invention." Elek appraised Gyula Komjáti Wanyerka for his drawing skills and predicted that the art of the group would truly unfold in the future. He described Nándor Lajos Varga as "the lover of his material, and a graphic artist through and through," whose "sensitivity is extremely finely tuned and his art in general is the art of delicacies rather than that of power. There is much tenderness in him, but it is the kind of manly tenderness that is characteristic of the philosophical and contemplating men."

46 In his article, Artúr Elek was the first to give a detailed analysis of