Passuth Krisztina – Szücs György – Gosztonyi Ferenc szerk.: Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya 1904–1914 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2006/1)
HUNGARIAN FAUVES CASE STUDIES - GERGELY BARKI: Róbert Berény, the "Apprenti Fauve"
27. Róbert Berény: Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, VI., 1907 Private collection (unknown location) 28. Robert Berény: Female Nude (Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, V.), 1907 Cat. No. 33. The colour scheme of the latter two nudes is closely related to the Fauves, although the influence of Matisse, who had by then turned his back on Fauvism, is also evident —especially in the formation of the figures. The distortion of the bodies is perhaps even more pronounced in Berény's case than in Matisse's pictures painted during the same period. At the same time, the strong emphasis on the plasticity of the bodies is reminiscent of Cezanne's art; perhaps it was not a coincidence that Montparnasse Nude shows a remarkable similarity to a wellknown nude by Cézanne (Fig. 29). In Krisztina Passuth's words, "Berény's works implant Cézanneism into Fauvism," 38 and this statement also applies to the closest relative of Nude of an Italian Girl, Reclining Female Nude (Fig. 22, Cat. No. 12), the dating of which we should now probably also modify to 1907. 39 Berény's nudes from 1907—above else Nude of an Italian Girl —clearly demonstrate the young painter's ability to react instantly to the most progressive stylistic trends and to assimilate the latest ideas in an upto-date and creative manner into his own paintings, so as to bear comparison with the canvases of the French Fauves. It was hardly a coincidence that the great critic of the fauves, Maurice Denis, mentioned explicitly Nude of an Italian Girl in his famous essay entitled Liberté épuisante et sterile. "In Berény's case, the simplicity is even more pronounced. Despite her strange appearance, his bizarre little woman, with legs resembling sausages, is rather lively and colourful," he wrote in his article published in La Grande Revue in the spring of 1908. 40 Denis's writing appeared in connection with the 1908 exhibition of the Salon des Indépendants. This was the last time that Berény exhibited in Paris, but he sent to the spring show mostly works that he had painted in 1907. Self-portrait in Top Hat, his early masterpiece painted with striking maturity and self-deprecatory sarcasm despite being merely twenty at the time, was also among the works he sent to the exhibition (Fig. 33, Cat. No. 14). Painting and showing the composition were alike a brave act, since it underlined, and even caricatured, his own Semitic features; it was especially brave in light of current events in contemporary France, when anti-Semitism and Chauvinism were on the rise in the wake of the Dreyfus affair, exposing the painter to vicious attacks. 41 Although he was not fond of 32. Róbert Berény: Montparnasse Nude, 1907. Cat. No. 11. Fauvism, Maurice Denis took special notice of Berény's work: "It is a well-painted and, what's more, a well-drawn portrait: because of its ugliness, it is very expressive." 4 '' In addition to Nude of an Italian Girl and Self-portrait in Top Hat, he also exhibited a small cartoon entitled Ball Players (Fig. 35, Cat. No. 15), which already anticipates the nude compositions he later painted as a member of Nyolcak. In all likelihood, the painter also drew sketches for this painting, one of his most daring, truly Fauvist compositions. The composition of the figures, and especially the posture and outline drawing of the throwing character, closely resembles the nude drawing of a weight-lifting boy from 1907 (Fig. 38, Cat. No. 29). It is worth
