Veszprémi Nóra - Szücs György szerk.: Borsos József festő és fotográfus (1821–1883) (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2009/4)

BORSOS JÓZSEF, A FESTŐ / JÓZSEF BORSOS THE PAINTER - Csendéletek/Still Lifes

ábrázolásmódját alapvetően meghatározta a mikroszkóp vagy a camera obscura, úgy a 19. századét a fotótechnikai eljárások fejlődése. Borsost már festészeti munkássága csúcsán is foglalkoztatta az optika, a fényképezés, amiről elsősorban egy saját magáról készített/készíttetett 1856-os fotó (kat. F1) tanúskodik. Talán ezzel is magyarázható, hogy életművében különös hangsúlyt kaptak a csendéletek. B. E. - A. E. K. STILL LIFES The artists of the Biedermeier period were all struck by the example of Dutch painters of old, and this was never more evident than in still life painting. All three of the painters who exerted the greatest influence on Borsos - Josef Danhauser, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Friedrich von Amerling had gone on a study trip in the Netherlands. Also, as the imperial and aristocratic collections became more and more accessible to the public, painters did not necessarily have to travel vast distances in order to encounter Old Dutch art. From studying their still-life painting, the Biedermeier artists learned a great deal about the technique of true-to-life painting of materials and the compactness of composition. In contemporary criticism József Borsos was often described as an artist who excelled first and foremost in still life painting. This is hardly surprising in view of the fact that in the 1840s he attracted a great deal of attention with his still life paintings, as well as with his portraits. Also, one of the high-water marks of his career was a large still life, which was purchased for the imperial collection in 1850and then senttothe Paris World Fair in 1855 (Cat. No. 118). In connection with his works, several critics pointed out that he seemed to take fastidious care of the stilllife details of his salon scenes and portraits and that the trueto-life quality of the materials he painted was due to the skills he picked up as a still life painter. Still-life painting is probably the best genre, in which an artist can give the fullest demonstration of his or her artistic virtuosity. There are countless anecdotes, from Antiquity onwards, about artists who could produce still-life details with uncanny resemblance to the real thing. On top of that, the Dutch artists of the 17th century included encoded moral messages in their compositions through the use of various symbols. While in all probability the Biedermeier painters were no longer able to decode these, it does not follow that we should regard their still lifes modeled on the Dutch examples merely as exquisite treats for the eye. Rather, they filled these old themes with new content. For example, the 19th-century still lifes depicting ornamental vessels and antique objects are the late representatives of a 17th-century typological class, the depictions of the'Yich man's table"as a moral lesson.They were also called historical still lifes, because they quite often depicted objects belonging to some major historical collection, thus trying to elevate the genre of still life painting, which occupied a rather low position in the academic hierarchy of painting, to the level of paintings of historical value. Since the collection of historical relics was seen in the 19th century as a means of raising the nation's spirit, these historical collections acquired an aggrandized status. This was how the precious metalwork of the Hungarian National Museum (1981 MNG 1830-1870, Cat. No. 420, in private ownership) found their way into a still life painted in 1851 by Béla Schaffen Although in the case of Borsos' still lifes we are merely groping in the dark in trying to identify the objects depicted, we can be certain that in his paintings, too, the old moral overtones were replaced by messages of national, ethnic or historical pride. In Dutch Baroque art, still lifes - as a form of the vanitas painting - were meant to be a reminder of the transience of life. In the Biedermeier age, however, the language of flowers could convey complex messages, and therefore it seems entirely justifiable that, while the 19th-century still lifes with flowers were undoubtedly based on old pictures and compositions, their real meaning could be decoded with the help of contemporary sources discussing the actual interpretations of floral symbolism. Johann Baptist Drechsler (1785-1811 ), who was thought to be the father of floral painting in Viennese Biedermeier, headed the painting school of the porcelain factory between 1777 and 1807. In 1812 a separate school of floral painting was established within the Academy: between 1812 and 1850, it was headed by Professor Sebastian Wegmayr (1776-1857), a staunch protagonist of the method of painting after archetypes. The direct study of nature became possible only in connection with scientific botanical studies, which were gaining momentum in the 1830s in Austrian territory. The academic painters made their own contribution to this work. As it had been the case with the Dutch painters of old, still life painting was accompanied by a certain scientific interest, and here we do not simply mean the direct observation of nature, but also include an interest in the associated technical apparatus. Just as the invention of microscopes and the camera obscura fundamentally influenced the perspective, or the visual representation, of the Dutch painters, the artists of the 19th century had the same experience with the development of photography. Even at the height of his career as a painter, Borsos had already developed a keen interest in lenses and in photography, which is confirmed by a photograph of Borsos (Cat. No. Fl). Perhaps this will explain the curious emphasis that still lifes received in his oeuvre. B. E.-A. E. K.