Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: „Csavargó”. Mednyánszky László élete és művészete (Kecskemét, 2007)

(1900-1905, cat. 43) can be mentioned in this circle. Although the psycho-analytical character of the vagrant portraits cannot be denied, the artist does not put the emphasis, as he admitted, on the personal features of the individual, but on the general characteristics of the human, in this case the vagrant, existence. ‘As soon as we take the human being as he comes from eternity and we leave out everything what is temporal in him, then in every human being there is some great, separate world. That is why he can impress us before we learn the temporal and after we learn about the temporal how unnecessary it is. Actually each human being is interesting, noble and great except for the marginal and temporal features. In each human being a type of general interest takes shape. (...) The old masters, who kept much of the primitive childishness, saw only the essence in human beings and this is why they could demonstrate them so correctly.’ In Mednyánszky’s case the careful selection of the colours based on physiology played an important role on the paintings as well. He was especially keen on applying a colour variant of aggressive effect: ‘There is a rusty, brownish, dirty-red that irritates the nerves excessively. There is some threatening in this colour, especially when other dirty grey and warm colours surround it. These colours are clouded. They remind us of the most well-known animal products, i.e. what are already in the first phase of fermentation. (...) The rusty and the colour of the already dry or clotted blood set the fermenting emotions on fire. This is the colour of most of the predatory animals. ’

Paintings demonstrating action also belong to the vagrant pictures, especially one decade preceding the First World War. Most of them are not characterised by dynamism but a typical, nervous, husky, but always ready for escaping passivity. What can be the cause of it? Mednyánszky tries to concentrate the action in one moment, countering the sentimental traditions of genre painting of the 19th century, and in connection with it he emphasises the characterising power of the atmosphere instead of the dynamic action. The action itself is rather reserved in most cases, so Mednyánszky’s vagrant paintings can be found somewhere between the portraits and the conversation pieces. In addition to this the ‘statement forms’ are quite frequent which seem to be stabile, but the figures are forced to be calm. The typical sitting motion of the S

eedy (between 1905-1908, see on p. 49) kept at the Kecskemét Gallery, can be seen on several other works as well. This painting can be considered as one of the peaks of Mednyánszky’s lifework. It has several antecedents and variations in water colour or pastel or pencil, where the painter tried to find a close viewpoint at half height, having a monumental effect (e.g. The Sitting Vagrant first part of the 1900s, cat. 74). The Relaxing Vagrant (1900s, cat. 82) of Szolnok is a rather conversation piece like variation painted in oil, from side view. The invisible source of light, the camp-fire of the painting of Kecskemét can be seen on it. The mature solutions elevate the Seedy to the height of a monument of the vagrant existence: ‘...the light of the fire coming from the bottom, the surrounding bluntly burning complementary colours, the ochre, the orange, the red and the bluish-green, their suggestivity elevate it as the symbol of the exclusion from the society.’ The modern interpretation of Csilla Markója it sounds like this: ‘...the centre of certain destructive forces is he himself, a lonely burning energy source. (...) ... The root of the problems of the figurái painting after the Second World War can be found here by Mednyánszky or Van Gogh, the problem is how would it be possible to create forces and figures that can be called the rhythmical concentrate of feelings and energies. ’

In the case of this work as well about his other work Sitting in the Pub (second half of the 1900s, see p. 48) concentrating on the human being and which is also similarly monumental, we can say that Mednyánszky dealt with a given topic or motif for a long time. This unique method of creation together with the frequent experimenting of the last two decades, and due to the lack of dates make it very difficult for the researchers to state the sequence of time of the creation of works within the lifework of Mednyánszky. On his work