William Penn Life, 2000 (35. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-04-01 / 4. szám
"FLOWERS IN A BLUE VASE" by Mihály Munkácsy (1882) Oil on canvass. The Salgo Trust for Education. New York "Christ Before Pilate." While in America, he took on a number of portrait commissions, particularly of the families of wealthy businessmen. These portraits were known to be flattering and rich with decorative detail, and have been compared to those of John Singer Sargent, the American society portrait artist. It may have been the influence of seeing the paintings of Tintoretto in the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice in 1874 that eventually led Munkácsy to paint his trilogy of paintings portraying Christ. "Christ Before Pilate" (1881) and "Golgotha" (1884) won great acclaim in Europe, especially Hungary. But, it was an American, John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia department store owner, who bought the paintings. Wanamaker displayed them first in his country home then later in a special room at his store, where they remained on display until 1988. The third picture, "Ecce Homo," was completed in 1886. Since 1930, it has hung in the Déri Museum in Debrecen, Hungary, where it was joined by the restored "Golgotha" in 1993 and "Christ Before Pilate" in 1995. Although categorized as a Realist throughout his career, Munkácsy used such different approaches to presenting various subjects that his paintings often seemed as though they could have been created by different artists. In addition to his genre paintings and portraits, he produced nearly 50 landscapes, many during the 1880's. He also painted some very beautiful still life compositions, mainly floralsincluding "Flowers in a Blue Vase"— which were an outgrowth of his salon paintings. While less well known, his landscapes are viewed by some as his finest works. A few of them, such as "The Dusty Road," were very close in feeling to the Impressionist works being done by other artists at the time. More evident in others is the influence of Munkácsy's friend, László Paál, and the plein-air style of the Nagybánya. While Munkácsy reportedly did not enjoy landscape painting, it was commercially in demand and, ironically, one area in which he was forced to confront the artistic trends of the time. Plagued by illness throughout his life, Munkácsy's health declined even further in 1896 following the completion of two monumental works, " Árpád's Conquest of Hungary" for the Hungarian House of Parliament, and a fresco "The Apotheosis of the Renaissance" for the ceiling of the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna. He died in a private sanitorium in Germany in 1900. His funeral in Budapest was a tribute which rivaled that of the funeral of Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth in 1894. While his reputation was in decline even before his death, Munkácsy's name evokes a passionate response as a legend. He became a symbol of Hungarian world success, a symbol of national pride even though his painting was not representative of any national feeling. Munkácsy never felt truly secure in his own fame. Self-justification and fear of failure caused him to make artistic compromises and created inner conflict. He has been criticized on several fronts, from pandering to commercialism to producing works which were not durable because of the materials he used. Nevertheless, Munkácsy remains a genius in the eyes of many, a man of undeniable talent whose worth was appreciated both in Hungary and in America at a time when a new class of art collectors were able to influence the art world in completely new ways. |p[j "Munkácsy in America: Works of a Celebrated Hungarian Painter from American Collectors " runs at the Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation through June 18,2000. The museum is located at 300 Somerset St., New Brunswick, N.J. Museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Suggested donation is $5. For more information, call (732) 846-5777. Willi» Pen Lile, April 2000 7
