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

accommodate the growing number of students; teachers were underpaid and generally lacked motivation to work; and the tight budget hardly even covered the honorarium for models. The latter problem was particularly pressing. In line with European educational practices, the School preferred to employ female rather than male models. Due to the contemporary association between nude posing and prostitution, female models cost more than their male counterparts. The constant rise in the annual budget for models did not result in an increase in the quality of academic studies. While the number of students increased dynamically, the space became insufficient. To cope with this problem, several classes were merged. In 1900, a new evening class for nude studies opened for the public as well. All of these factors affected the life drawing and the models: their posing had to be less elaborated, and also stiffer and simpler. Archival data indicates that the annual remuneration for models was on average lower than the lowest student scholarships. Given their modest social origins, female models were often not shown respect by students. Scholarly research on an institution where study after a naked female model was a central part of the training of young male students can be successfully conducted only by applying recent interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological perspectives. Western feminist epistemological theories highlight the hierarchical relation between analysing subject and analysed object, and recent art and cultural-historical approaches point to the fact that the studying male gaze on the female body is far from disinterested. The female body becomes not just an object of study but also of sexual desire. This unequal relationship is also captured in artistic representation. This sum of theories illuminates the particularities of my case study. In theory, models in the School were regarded as 'living patterns', similar to other training 'objects'. Despite the official narrative, the directorship of the School and the teachers were concerned with the everyday problems deriving from the employment of female models. An article by a male student Menyhért Both is relevant to the experience of male students. He pointed out that the female model was much more the object of their desire than the subject of their studies, and this had a detrimental effect upon their training. One can learn from his article that the models were set into poses before the arrival of teachers, who were only present in the classroom temporarily to correct students' drawings. The lack of permanent supervision encouraged certain male students to misbehave. Numerous reports found in the archive of the School documented that male students not only harassed the models, but 'sexualised' women around them, such as female students in the School, visitors at exhibitions, or even passers-by in the area. This caused problems for both art teachers and the director of the institutions, who blamed the troubles on the employment of female models. After the extensive methodological reforms in life drawing in 1902/3, the number of cases of harassment increased. As a result of this the directorship of the School decided to introduce gendered life drawing: male students could subsequently study only male models, while women remained 'naturally' restricted to drawing after female nudes. This segregation was, however, shortlived: after a few years, the number of female models was again overwhelmingly higher than that of male models. In order to experiment with the painting of 'flesh', Bertalan Székely created several head studies of female models. Since the usual paint with a normal brush did not give good results, he documented his experiments with different materials, paints and methods to achieve an optimal optical effect, a beautiful, natural human skin surface, which he was later able to employ in his 'academic' nude paintings. His later nude paintings depict allegorical or mythical themes. On the smooth, velvet-like surface of the painted skin the brush strokes cannot be seen. It is this which can convey through the academic standards the gazes of both artist and viewer. The fact that the eye can pass continuously over the female forms in the painting is evidence of the academic study. The mythical or allegorical topic carried the desire (an idealised desire) which derived from the presence of a female nude model. In contrast, 'modern' nude paintings of the period represented more directly and without mediation the sensuality present during studying through the brush strokes. Using a combination of different written, oral, and visual sources, such as letters, interviews and paintings, the chapter reconstructs the life story of one of Székely's favourite female models Paula Balogh (1865-192?). Although her life is in many ways unique, her case study can shed light upon the average social background and professional opportunities open to female models. Born in Triest into the lower middle class family of a Hungarian clerk, Paula moved to Budapest with her family in her childhood. She was, supposedly, introduced to Székely by female art students and - most probably worked as a (nude) model in the School. Székely painted several head studies of her; one of them he presented to her in 1890 as a mark of consideration and respect. Paula married relatively late and then moved with her husband to the countryside. After the death of her first husband (around 1901) she married again, but her second husband, a pharmacist, also died quite early. She had no children and died in the 1920s. Her family still preserves the memory of her work. The library of the School has more than a hundred nude photographs from the 19th century, but there are no indications as to the name of the photographer, the origin of the pictures or the dates of entry into the collection. I have identified them as belonging to an extended series that received particular attention in international photography history. The photographs in the series can be recognised by their special numbering. Nude studies of children and young women, and head, hand and drapery studies of women are signed with the letter E and an Arabic numeral. Nude studies of young and old men,