Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: „Csavargó”. Mednyánszky László élete és művészete (Kecskemét, 2007)
i. Vázlatkönyvi rajz - Csavargó (1914-1916, kát. 30.) Sketch-book drawing - A Vagrant (1914-1916, cat. 30) Károly Lyka, art historian, whom the artist highly esteemed, writes as a witness of Mednyánszky’s method of landscape painting. ‘He painted his landscapes from memory, in his workshop in Pest. His ability of doing this was quite extraordinary. He could remember even the finest form and colour combinations, however, in order to check himself, he put five or six nature studies made outdoors on the wall, and while he was painting he ran his eye over it. So his paintings concentrate his experiences of the nature. Concentrate but never exaggerate. As to his method Mednyánszky never became a ‘real’ plain-air painter, however, even in case of his most mystical or abstract landscape compositions the basis of appearance is always the sensual experience. (Several diary entries refer to it.) So Mednyánszky’s landscapes show at the same time plein air and symbolical values thus confusing several of his critics. Another methodological peculiarity supported by photos as well is that he was working on several paintings at the same time in his atelier so that his work should not be slowed down by the long drying periods of the layers. His notes for himself refer to Mednyánszky’s special relationship to the nature where the human being is always present, first of all in his soul and feelings. Especially his paintings made later during the war show well, but also his writings and studies underline from the beginnings that human being and nature based on the mood melt together: ‘The nice and loveable way of suffering ignoring every brutal feature. Purple shadows on the green grass. There is some insensible (sadistical) intimacy in the physiological effect of certain colours, like a child would feel if he found himself in the corner of a wet, dark wall, in a vault.’ For Mednyánszky nature similarly to the motif of the curtain or the mirror hides in itself the world that cannot be comprehended by the human brain and which cannot be seen by the human eyes. Although the secrets of nature can become banners up to a certain point for the understanding and insiders. From this point of view he has some similarities with the painters of romanticism, e.g. the German Friedrich, who interpreted his inspiring sources, his own emotions and the nature around him all like hieroglyphs of supernatural origin. This extent of theoreticality became never typical and especially not visible in Mednyánszky’s lifework and allegorical images emerge only like episodes in his works. Nevertheless the effect of theosophy cannot be denied. Mednyánszky stayed for a longer period of time in France for the second time with shorter and longer breaks between 1889 and 1892. Besides Paris, Normandy, Barbizon, Bretagne and Marseilles he spent a longer time in Sucy-en-Brie. His plein air reached its peak here, at least as to his free and easy colour and light treatment. Unfortunately almost all of his works from this period of time were left in France. Mednyánszky dealt with the popular theories of his era and it is also reflected in his works. According to
