Gärtner Petra (szerk.): Csók István (1865 - 1961) festészete - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
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RESUME 461 actual elements of the scene, he captures moods, colour harmonies, and ethereal visions: a"rosy-fingered"dawn, rising mist, and sunlight on the water. > (cat. 112-125) XXI. EMESE RÉVÉSZ Literary illustrations by István Csók Bánk Bán ("bán" means "governor"-translator's note), a drama completed by József Katona in 1819, had already canonic status within the nation's literature by 1890. Illustrating the deluxe edition of the work meant a great deal to the young Csók. Nevertheless, the artist's sole source material were some stage designs, as drama hadn't been a significant influence on contemporary art since playing in the royal courts of the 13th century. Csók broke with the tradition of historic and full-dress stage design, focusing instead on the more spiritual moments of dramatic performances. This was in tune with how drama was being interpreted at the century's end. Bánk is not depicted as a hero; rather, he comes across as a struggling, contemplating, Hamlet-like figure. The painter's compositional focus is the heroine on the verge of insanity and revenge. The heroes are depicted in a blurry, foggy fashion, following the symbolist trends of the day. Csók painted one illustration for each of the five scenes in the deluxe edition. (XXI.1-4) On the opening picture is Melinda, wife of Bánk. The second shows the scene in which the rebels gather in Petur's house to gain Bánk's support, (cat. 126) The only figure Csók chose to depict in the third is Tiborc, a peasant. The penultimate picture is of Bánk's fateful act: the murder of the queen, with Gertrude lying on the steps of the throne's platform, (cat. 127) The final piece, which captures the dramatic ending of the play, shows Bánk and his son peering over Melinda's bier. Csók's next significant illustrative work is again connected to a great series of books. His illustrations for the old Hungarian poetry in the Illustrated master writers series were published in 1904. Three of his drawings appeared with Bálint Balassi's poems in the first volume. (XXI.6-8) The "My Love is Angry with Me Now" (cat. 128) charcoal drawing is a version of Melancholia, destroyed earlier by the artist. The composition of the youth meditating and staring into the distance, a favourite topos of the symbolists, appears in the picture for the love poem To the Cranes. Csók's third drawing depicts Balassi's most well-known barrack song. Csók also drew seven illustrations for the poem To a Village Notary for his Journey to Buda in the second volume of The old Hungarian poetry. (XXI.9-15) The publishing of Simon Kemény's collection of poems by Athenaeum in 1930 was high-level amateur work. (XXI.16, XXI.18) Csók had only three illustrations in the volume and they were not relevant to any of the poems in an illustrative way. His first composition is a mass of whirling nudes. Its figures are the immediate "successors" of his Witches on Gellert Hill, which he worked on from the beginning of the century until his death. In the second composition the focus is on words, but not the words of the poem; rather, on inscriptions of archaic words and texts. The source of this drawing is Franz Lucas Huetter's meditational picture from around 1760. His third composition, which is embedded in the text, is a typical landscape with no narrative or actual human figure. XXII. JEFFREY TAYLOR Art disputes and circles at the turn of the century István Csók and modern Hungarian art trade István Csók's career passed through virtually every major development in the rapidly evolving Pest art market at the Fin de Siècle. He pioneered new retail concepts, experimented with innovative exhibition venues, pursued the new opportunities offered by commercial galleries, and balanced his loyalty to his home market with a desire to ultimately achieve fame on the world stage. At nearly every pivotal moment in the modern art market's formation, covering the period of 1894-1914, Csók was present and very often playing one of the leading roles. Though blessed with early successes, he never gave in to aesthetic complacency and continued to attempt to push boundaries of taste through relentless formal and thematic innovations. He leveraged his early stockpile of cultural capital accumulated through medals and accolades and to bring respectability and even acceptance of modernism in early 20th century Budapest. Csók scored his first major success at the most prestigious of all venues at that time, the 1889 Paris World Exhibition, where his Potato Peelers won an Honorable Mention, (cat. 4) He would continue to earn awards at the Hungarian National Artists Society Kunsthalle, as well as the Paris Salon and the Munich Glaspalast. Csók set out to emulate his generation's role model, Mihály Munkácsy, and paint a chef-de-oeuvre masterpiece, one that would shock and entertain with a narrative as dramatic as a theater play. He worked for two years in his Munich studio to produce Erzsébet Báthory, arid presented it at the 1895 Paris Salon. It failed to gather any awards there, and when he sought to enter it in to the 1896 Millennium art exhibition, it was rejected on account of its great size as well as its controversial themes. Therefore, he displayed it instead at the Hotel Royal on the Great Ring Road. It was this improvisational idea of using the new grand Ring Road hotel which would establish Csók as an art market innovator, always willing to consider a new method or venue for displaying artworks. When, in 1897, the painters associated with Simon Hollósy's Nagybánya School (of which Csók was a member) tried to exhibit as a group at the new Kunsthalle (Műcsarnok), they were denied, T I
