Gärtner Petra (szerk.): Csók István (1865 - 1961) festészete - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
Resume
preface of the catalogue is written by Máriusz Rabinovszky. The collected exhibition, in which works from both public and private collections are included, is displayed in the King Saint Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár in cooperation with the Museum of Fine Arts.The County Hall Street in the inner city is renamed in Csók's honor, in accordance with his own wishes. 1951 His triptych, War and Peace (XXIII.4-6), is displayed in the 2nd Hungarian Fine Art Exhibition in the Art Gallery. 1952 He receives the medal of Eminent Artist of the People's Republic of Hungary and, for the second time, the Kossuth Prize. He participates in the 3rd Hungarian Fine Art Exhibition with his landscapes of Dunaföldvár. 1955 An oeuvre exhibition is organized on the occasion of Csók's 90th birthday in the Museum of Fine Arts, opened by Ernő Mihályfi, the Deputy Minister of Culture. Anna Oelmacher wrote the introduction to his catalogue. The 90 works included in the exhibition, beginning with his earliest pieces from the academy and ending with War and Peace, span his entire career. The gallery (formerly the Miklós Horthy House of Culture) of King Saint Stephen Museum opens in downtown Székesfehérvár. In honor of the 90-year-old artist being born in Fejer County the gallery, which is still in operation today, is named after him: István Csók Gallery. The permanent exhibition that is collected from the material of the Museum of Fine Arts introduces the history of Hungarian painting from the 19th century to the present day. Three of Csók's works are displayed as well. 1956 Several works are displayed in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of Pécs and Baranya. 1957 The first monographic-style introduction of his first period is written by Zoltán Farkas and published by the Fine Arts Fund. 1961 Csók passes away at the age 96 on February 1 in Budapest. He is buried in the Kerepesi Cemetery. 1962 The commemorative museum is opened on May 20th in the family mansion in Cece, made possible by his daughter's donation under the supervision of the Hungarian National Gallery. The four rooms of his first exhibition house more than 30 oil paintings along with some of his furniture, personal belongings and documents.The organizer of the exhibition is KatalinTelepy. Compiled by Emese Révész II. ESZTER EDINA MOLNÁR István Csók's retrospective image-building Autobiography about the years of seeking ways In the case of a well-known career it is possible to examine the path of life and the autobiography side by side, which means that one can compare the subjective depiction of life experiences observed from an internal aspect to an objective, external subsequent evaluation of the very same career. Accordingly, this study not only deals with István Csók's autobiography, My Memoirs, but through the autobiography it also examines the painterly career adhering to the artist's emphasis: how he saw and made others to see his career, its stages, its successes and its failures. István Csók's aim here was not simply to provide a recollection of his youth, but to demonstrate the artist's permanent external (seeking acknowledgement) and internal (finding his true self) struggles. He wished to share with the reader what he perceived as the right way, as well as his errors and reasons for his confession, and finally, his desires, by taking his one-time self and his years of seeking into account. He recreates himself through the process of remembering and the main aspect of his self-assembly is the construction of the creator's self, from the beginning to perfection. The early years tell the story of István Csók's journey from a mill in Epres to the Parisian art world. Whereas this period was characterized by studying various strands of contemporary art and professional preparation, the years of way-seeking were transformed into a period of suffering. Although his talents had been acknowledged by this point, his memoirs indicate that he lamented the vain pursuit of success. 1902 was a watershed year for the artist, as he made the crucial decision to break with his way of living. Paris became his new home, a reinvigorating locale in which he found fresh air and companions which gave him "seven rich years''and the end of his struggle, a kind of resurrection point at which his autobiography ends. His words reflect changes in his values: he renounced the pursuit of loud success for the possibility of silent happiness. All in all it can be said that the episodes recounted by Csók in the autobiography give the impression of an essential departure from the past: all his failures recounted here tell a story of development in which a painter discovers in himself something what he had been struggling to find in others.
