Passuth Krisztina – Szücs György – Gosztonyi Ferenc szerk.: Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya 1904–1914 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2006/1)

FROM PARIS TO NAGYBÁNYA - PARIS - EMESE PÁPAI: The Stein Family in Paris

conventional. „For hours they stood around the large table in the center of the spacious and well-lighted room, examining portfolios full of drawings by Matisse, Picasso, and others, and folios well-stocked with superb Japanese prints. This salon was a sort of international clearinghouse of ideas and matters of art for the young and aspiring artists from all over the world."

35 The main reason why the Steins stood out in the crowd of collectors was that they had no advisors and asked for no advices from experts before making their acquisitions. In developing their own, distinctive style in art, they always relied on their own judgment, which earned them the label "eccentric" from their contemporaries. The other distinctive feature of their salon was that it attracted artists, art critics and art collectors coming from a wide range of social circles. Most of the art collections in contemporary Paris were not open to the public, although some, like August Pellerin's collection, could be visited following prior appointment. By contrast, the two salons of the Steins were „virtually open, in particular to any fellow countryman passing through or living in Paris, and to many others too, such as [...] the English critics Roger Fry, Clive Bell, C. Lewis Hind, and Frank Rutter, or such Russian fellow collectors as Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morosov."

36 The Steins, who were totally committed to modern art, always showed great concern for the individual circumstances of modern artists. Even outside their salons, they did everything in their power to propagate the new styles and encouraged all their friends and relatives to start their own collections. It was on their advice that their friends, Etta and Claribel Cone from Baltimore, became involved in collecting works of art. Claribel bought eighteen drawings and graphical pieces from Picasso, while Etta purchased drawings, watercolours and oil paintings from Matisse. On top of that, Etta Cone also acquired a number of works by Manet, Renoir and Cézanne. At the dawn of the 20

th century, not everyone was aware of the importance of the Stein salon and the rue de Fleurus. However, subsequent history has demonstrated the lasting value of the pioneering collection put together with unfailing instinct, just as it has born witness to the salon's influence on the development of artistic tastes and sensibilities. In his monograph on Matisse, Alfred Barr summed up the unanimous view of the specialists dealing with the period, when he described Leo Stein as being „possibly the most discerning connoisseur and collector of 20

th century painting in the world."

37 And as for the young painters visiting the Steins' salons, a number of them also visited Matisse's school, the very place where one of the most important figures was Sarah Stein: pupil, collector and chronicler in one person. Notes 1 "But one night in Paris when he [Leo] was dining with Pablo Cassais, as he often did, and expounding on his theories of aesthetics, he suddenly felt himself 'growing into an artist.' He went back to his hotel, made a fire, took of his clothes, and began to draw from the nude. He spent the next week drawing from statues in the Louvre, then began painting at the Academy Julian. A sculptor cousin recently arrived in Paris had just found a place to live; 'as I don't like apartment hunting, I said to him that doubtless he had the best he found: what is the next best? He said the next best was 27 rue de Fleurus. So I settled at 27 rue de Fleurus.'" Irene Gordon, "A World Beyond the World: The Discovery of Leo Stein", in: Four Americans in Paris, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1970, 22. (See: Leo Stein, Appreciation: Painting, Poetry and Prose, New York, Crown Publishers, 1947, 151.) 2 Stein, op. cit. (Note 1), 13. 3 There were works by Delacroix, Courbet, Degas, Pissaro and Monet in his collection. 4 He studied biology, history, art history and philosophy. 5 John Rewald, Cézanne, the Steins and their Circle, London, Thames and Hudson, 1986, 9. 6Stein, op. cit. (Note 1), 156. 7 Linda Wagner-Martin, "Favored Strangers"- Gertrude Stein and Her Family, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1995, 65; James R. Mellow, Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company, Discus Books, 1982, 82-84. 8 Leo purchased the painting from art dealer Vollard in the beginning of 1904. Rewald, op. cit. (Note 5), 9. 9 Letter of Gertrude and Leo Stein to Mabel Weeks, from Paris, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, quoted in: Rewald, op. cit. (Note 5), 11. 10 Rewald, op. cit. (Note 5), 13. 11 Fernande Olivier, Picasso et ses amis, Paris, Stock, 1923, 102. 12 Maurice Sterne, Shadow and Light: The Life, Friends, and Opinions of Maurice Sterne, ed. Leon Mayerson, New York, Charlotte, Harcourt and Brace, 1962, 48. 13 Wagner-Martin, op.cit. (Note 7), 69. On the collection of Michael and Sarah Stein see ibid. 14 Brenda Wineapple, Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein, New York, Putnam, 1996, 241. About the relationship between the two painters see: Flam 2004. 15 Stein 1990, 30-32. 16 Leo Stein, Journey into the Self, Being the Letters, Papers and Journals of Leo Stein, New York, Fuller, Edmund, Crown, 1950, quoted in: Wagner-Martin, op. cit. (Note 7), 64. 17 Leo Stein's letter to Mabel Weeks, Paris, 15 February, 1910, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, quoted in: Rewald, op.cit., (Note 5), 28. 18 About this see Gergely Barki's essay in this volume: From the Julian Academy to Matisse's Free School. 19 Leo Stein's letter to Albert C. Barnes, 20 October, 1934, in: Wineapple, op.cit., (Note 14), 233. 20Wineapple, op.cit. (Note 14), 233. 21 Stein 1990, 43. 22 Harriet Lane Levi, Reminiscences, unpublished memoirs. See Wineapple, op.cit. (Note 14), 240. 23 Wineapple, op.cit. (Note 14), 233. 24

Wagner-Martin, op. cit. (Note 7), 72. 25 Mabel Dodge Luhan, Intimate Memoirs. I, New York, Harcourt and Brace, 1935, 322, quoted in: Rewald, op. cit. (Note 5), 20. 26 Stem 1990, 13. 27 Bornemisza, Géza, "Henri Matisse. Visszaemlékezés a nagy művészre" [Henri Matisse. Remembering the Great Artist], Kékmadár, I, 1923, 62; Magyar művészek Parisban a század elején [Hungarian Artists in Paris at the Beginning of the Century.], Questions: Árpád Somogyi, Interview with Géza Bornemisza, painter, 1951, MTA MKI, Archives, Inv. No.: MDK-C-ll-23. 28Kratochwill 2001, 16. 29 Mikola 1972, 46-48. 30 Ferenczy, Béni, "Párizsi emlékek", in: írás és kép [Mémoires from Paris, in: Writing and Pictures], Budapest, Magvető, 1961, 29. 31 Ambroise Vollard, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Boston, Little and Brown, 1936, 137. 32 Wagner-Martin, op. cit. (Note 7), 69. 33 Wagner-Martin, op. cit. (Note 7), 70. 34 Fernande Olivier, Picasso and His Friends, New York, Appleton Century, 1965, 82-83. 35 Interview with Max Weber, 1958, Oral History Collection of Columbia University, quoted in: Wineapple, op. cit. (Note 14), 243. 36 John Rewald, Cézanne and America. Dealers, Collaborators, Collectors, Artists and Critics 1891-1921, New York, Princeton, 1989, 61. The quote is related to the salon at rue Madame.