Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: Kecskemét és a magyar zsidó képzőművészet a 20. század első felében (Kecskemét, 2014)

Jegyzetek

he did not paint for a long time, his inventing vein (new kinds of paint, a new cinematograph-type), composing vein (two of his string quartets were played in Berlin) and his music critical vein came into prominence. He returned to Hungary in 1926. “His new period had initiated in terms of French influences, though, he became a follower of national traditions." Gradually obscuring the sharp structuring and composing, naturalism and the respect for objective depiction appeared in his works, therefore, during the 1930s - concerning his personal relationships - he progressively became a “regular member” of the so called Gresham Circle. This latter more relaxed and lyrical style called the post-Nagybánya style can be seen in his picture, the Grape-eater (Plate 30) as well. How far did the painter get from his original intentions? There you are: “We ceaselessly have to make and create something new and we have to express all the contents of our soul every time through innovative ways with the strength of our passion and with complete freedom.” Also, in the case of Sándor Ziffer (1880-1962), a former student of Hollbsy, his early years are appreciated the most, namely, his period in the style of the Neos and the Fauves. The artist, who spent most of his life in Nagybánya (see the two landscapes on the wall in the background of the picture) painted his Self Portrait of Kecskemét (Plate 32) in the 1920s. However, similarly to Berény this critical evaluation is not definitive. During the First World War his stay in Germany had a strong effect on him: “The Brücke and the expressionism of the Blaue Reiter and the rhythm and colours of Franz Marc, August Macke, and the blending shades of blue and green determined his future art.”

“Imre Ámos is the top-level and aesthetically perfect “documentalist” of the Hungarian Jewish fate between 1938 and 1945, if I had to characterize the period with only one oeuvre it would be Ámos’s. His fate is the manifestation of what he creates in his pictures with the help of symbols, emble ms and with visual devices. He was point- lessly destroyed at the end of the forced-labour service, still the works preserve forever everything that could happen with Jewish people in Hungary, in Ukraine and on the way to Germany.” We can also point out that in contrast to most Hungarian Jewish artists represented at our exhibition, in his case, the topics and the iconography of his artworks - independently from the rightful historical incentive of the period - were not just temporarily inspired by his origin. This can be especially well seen in one of his best known paintings with the title Rabbi with a Cock (Plate 33) which was donated to the collection of the museum of Kecskemét by the Glücks couple. It is not accidental that Imre Ámos (originally Ungár, 1907-1944) began his autobiography as follows: “He spent his childhood in the atmosphere of believers living in the atmosphere of the saint priest of Kálló and going on the pilgrimage to his sepulchre.” Nagykálló of the Nyírség is a centre of Hungarian Hasidism, and the town of the “Grand Rabbi” Eizik Taub who worked there between 1782 and 1821. According to the legend, the great Tzaddik heard a song (The cock is singing...) during his walk on a meadow, and he got it or rather learnt it from a shepherd boy (who miraculously forgot the song as soon as the rebbe learnt it). It is still very popular among orthodox Jewish people. Therefore, it is logical why Ámos painted the cock and a detail of the front of the arched sepulchre (ojhel) of the rabbi. ‘A chariot of fire and horses of fire” (2 Kings 2:11) appear close to that, “when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:1). The old man dominating the picture - who might be the grandfather bringing up Ámos and being the melamed (the religious teacher) of the local Jewish school - does not seem frightened. Since he knows, if not from something else, then from the holy book in his hands that it has to be that way (»it is written so«) - he has been praying for this sequence of events in all his life, and saying his connective and different blessing on all moments of »everyday life«. (There is a kohanim, a priestly benediction on the cover of the book.) He is rather listening to and analyzing the sound of the cock which has initiated the obvious associations that burst out from his brain.”

The Blue Self Portrait (Plate 34) is the face of Ámos at the end of the 1930s with cobalt blue colour and red lines, and in spite of the traditional three-quarter view, the stylized portrait has an effect of masques. As in other pictures of Ámos the cobalt blue here is also a premonitory sign of death and the colour of the night that still passes, but soon will always bring dark dreams, it is the “colour kabbalah” of the artist that reads the tragic signs on the bounds of the two worlds.” Then he writes the following in his diary (9th November 1938): “Instead of real criticism, we read more and more often who is Jewish, whose wife is Jewish and so on, as if the religion and faith of an artist were not his own art with which he served and respected humanity. It is a sorely trying time... [...] We are almost about to hide in catacombs in order to work freely, it is not enough that we cannot earn money with it; people, who have nothing to do with art, want to dictate to us what to ere62