Nagy Ildikó szerk.: Rippl-Rónai József gyűjteményes kiállítása (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 1998/1)

TANULMÁNYOK / ESSAYS - BERNÁTH Mária: Rippl-Rónai József Emlékezései

MÁRIA BERNÁTH Th he Memoirs was published in 1911. It included reproductions of a selection of his paintings and drawings, and the facsimile of two Maillol letters. It is expedient to handle Rippl-Rónai's memoirs as an irregular work of the painter. It is a panno painted with words, depicting a detailed and authentic panorama of the historic environment he was living in. It offers a true picture of his working methods, his relations to the world. His methods are not in the regular vein of memoir literature; for him, the medium was alien. Plain sincerity so much admired in his self-portraits was shackled by the written word. He wrote in his own colloquial language as dictated by his legendary penchant for story-telling, following his wayward thoughts. Though only indirectly, the expected totality can be achieved, the mosaic stones of memories shifting into place in our minds. He begins his memoirs with his settlement in Paris (1887). It would not even occur him that anything before that might be of interest. The most colourful chapter details the mental and physical misery he experienced as Munkácsy s apprentice. He copied the master's pictures according to his instructions, so as to keep going in Paris. In his little free time left, he kept constructing his own style in secret. Apart from the personal account, the chapter is also very important as the chronicle of Mihály Munkácsy's - personally and artistically tragic - last years. Rippl-Rónai is reluctant to speak about the effects that influenced his art, but this not only out of professional pride. When writing his Memoirs, he had just left behind the times when he was incessantly called a French epigon, an alien body in Hungarian art. Hardly noticeable subtle references try to clear the picture: he mentions a date or an exhibition when or where he first met Whistler's pictures, Gauguin, or other artists he can be stylistically compared to. The two most momentous friendships in the Paris József Rippl-Rónai's Memoirs period tied him to the Scottish painter of some significance, James Pitcairn Knowles and to Aristide Maillol, whom he met via Knowles. His talks with Knowles were like a compass in Rippl-Rónai's crucial years of finding himself. And it was Rippl who recognized the sculptor in Maillol. Of particular interest are the lines describing Maillol as Rippl-Rónai's host, with glimpses of his workshop and personal habits. His recollections of his friendship with Thadée Natanson and the Nabi artists are also valuable as a source. This keen sense of perception that is so obvious in his portraits characterizes him as a writer, too. Many salient figures emerge from the pages in their privacy such as Cézanne, Gauguin, Maurice Denis, or Puvis de Chavannes. The Memoirs is an art guide in the Paris of the turn of the century. On the other hand, it administers justice to an artist who was clear about his own values and mission. When Rippl had achieved all the moral and material acknowledgement his artistic work deserved, he was already 45-50 years old. Musing about the memories of the past, he is often telling anecdotes, but as he comes to public events of the art scene and reconstructs his reception at home, the pages sizzle with resigned bitterness. Though meant as a memoir, sometimes the book appears to be an indictment in ragged words. At last he had the opportunity to give a piece of his mind to the Hungarian art politicians and their sycophants. The trials at home forced him into a way of life in his most productive years that was alien to his personality. The writing also reveals the homesickness he felt in Paris, and the motivating conviction that he had been progressing along the right course. Rippl-Rónai's writing is a major contribution to the exploration of this heroic period in the history of art, to bringing it vividly close to us, but it will obviously also help to discover facets of his pictures overlooked so far.