Imre Györgyi szerk.: A modell, Női akt a 19. századi magyar művészetben (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2004/2)

Tanulmányok / Studies - Bicskei Éva: A helyi mint nemzetközi / The Eocal as International

The Local as International The Practice of Life Drawing and Studies after Models (Female Nudes) at the Model Drawing College and Drawing Teacher Training School ÉVA BICSKEI [SUMMARY This paper focuses on the teaching of life drawing and studies after nude models at the Hungarian National Model Drawing College and Drawing Teacher Training School (hereinafter referred to as 'the School') in Pest during the period 1871-1914. It highlights the different experiences and practices of teachers and students, and reconstructs the biography of one female model as a case study. The teaching of life drawing was influenced by two decisive factors: the changes in the educational aims of the School, which developed into an Art Academy; and the complex relationship between male artists and female models, shaped by the 19th-century hierarchy of gender and social class. These factors had a considerable impact on the curricula of the School, on the methodology of life drawing, and on visual representations. Part One of the paper concentrates on the changes in the curricula and the administrative organisation of the School, highlighting the gap between state-sponsored cultural policies and actual training practice. Part Two highlights the practical problems concerning life drawing, which affected the quality of the studies, and the methodology. Furthermore, it sheds light on the experience of life drawing from the young male students' point of view, and on the dilemmas generated by the hiring of female models for life drawing. Part Three explores the aims of studying female models from the point of view of the School's teacher of life drawing, Bertalan Székely, and this facilitates the reconstruction of the biography of one of his models, Paula Balogh. Part Four focuses on a group of nude photographs found in the library of the School, belongings to a series well known in international photographic history. It suggests possible links between the authorship of these photographs and life studies in the School. In its pre-World War One history, the School (and its life drawing studies) underwent several waves of radical reorganisation, which made it compatible with contemporary European art academies. In 1871, when the School was opened, the teaching of life drawing in European art academies had already undergone major changes. Female models gradually replaced male models, and posing for life drawing started to become an acknowledged profession. The 'classic' curricula of most contemporary art academies included life drawing (coming after the copying of engravings and plaster casts by old masters), together with training in perspective, anatomy and composition. Compared to well-established European art academies, the Hungarian School had upon its creation a more limited educational agenda. Its officially-stated aims were: 1) to train drawing teachers who could teach geometric and technical drawing; 2) to elevate the artistic level of industrial products, and the general public through evening classes; 3) to offer basic training to would-be artists, enabling them to continue their studies at art academies abroad; and 4) to train army personnel for military drawing. None of these branches of training necessitated extended studies in life drawing. Despite its limited original aims, the educational practice of the School evolved in the direction of academic art training from the beginning. This development was due largely to Bertalan Székely, the greatest Hungarian painter of the age and one of the School's most motivated teachers, who built a unified and high-level academic art education based on life drawing. When the School opened, life drawing included studies after smaller plaster casts and head studies after life models, but none of these studies consisted of the whole human figure. The emphasis on art training was also stimulated by the great number of male 'amateurs' attending the School, who were interested in life rather than geometrical drawing. Originally, the school operated in a rented building in the Jewish district of Pest, which had a prayer room with good overhead lighting, making life drawing and head studies after male (and possibly female) models possible. After the death of the Minister of Education József Eötvös (whose idea it might have been to limit art education in the School), the School, its director Gusztáv Keleti, and its teacher of life drawing Bertalan Székely took advantage of this situation and autonomously redefined the educational aims. In 1874-1875, military drawing was abandoned and the evening course for craftsmen and the general public was restricted. Meanwhile, the education concentrated on extended artistic training. This meant a substantial increase in the number of life drawing teaching hours and changes in its methodology, marked by the introduction of studies after the nude (1874/5 or 1875/6), copying full-figure antique plaster casts (1876/7), anatomy lessons (1875/6) and studies in composition (1876/7). All the newly introduced subjects were taught by Székely, assuring integrated and highquality comprehensive training. The new curricula went much beyond the simple requirements of drawing teacher training or of preparing would-be artists for further academic studies. Since it concentrated on high-quality artistic training, the School functioned de facto as a small art