Gärtner Petra (szerk.): Csók István (1865 - 1961) festészete - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
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RESUME 459 plained with the réévaluation of 17thcentury Dutch painting in the second part of the 19th century, with the spread of "hollandism" throughout Europe and the so-called "holland mania" in the United States, which culminated in the 1900s. The painting of the Dutch golden age received significant reappraisal with the spread of French realism and impressionism. Works by Rembrandt, Frans Fiais, Vermeer and the "little Dutch masters" were considered the pinnacle of middle-class realism and the forerunners of the modern realist aspirations, providing exemplary models and inspiration to figures of the era. The influence of these 17th century masters can be seen in the realism of landscape pieces and in the intimate tone of the interior pictures painted by the artists who broke with the academism of the 19th century and whose success was owed to the fact that they were seen as revivalists of the older, realistic tradition. Their work might have played a significant part in the growing popularity of the Netherlands and the "holland" motifs. A study tour to the Netherlands then was as obligatory for artists as a trip to Italy had been for their earlier counterparts. It goes without saying that the popularity of "hollandism" wielded a great influence over Flungarian artists. It is a fact that Mihály Munkácsy, László Paál, MórThan, and Bertalan Székely visited the Netherlands, as did Aladár Edvi Illés, József Koszta and Lajos Szlányi. Moreover, Izsák Perlmutter won achieved wide critical recognition with his"holland"pictures, at home and abroad. Whereas the buyers of 17th century Dutch paintings had been primarily Europeans (English, French or German) up until the 1850s, by the century's end they were supplanted by wealthy American collectors who overtook the cream of the European antiquities market within a couple of decades. Flowever, this was only part of the spectacular phenomena of the "holland mania" that swept the American art world at the time. In the third part of the 19th century, many Americans believed they had found their spiritual ancestors in the Dutch civilians of the 17th century. Another explanation is that anything reminiscent of the Netherlands was considered fashionable in the United States between 1880 and 1920. Many American artists went on a pilgrimage to the Netherlands around the turn of the century or began to imitate typical Dutch landscapes and genre pictures. István Csók's choice of the theme of the "Dolce far niente" and other pictures painted in a similar style was not a coincidence. Artists of the period were apt to draw on Dutch influences for their work, and Csók followed suit by draping his charming female subjects in 17th century attire in order to market his pieces more effectively. Yet at the same time, he felt less and less need to apply his Dutch forebears' meticulous methods to his own work. For the most part, he was satisfied with incorporating some of the more characteristic motifs, such as the coatee with a fur hem (common in works by Pieter de Hooch, Frans van Mieris, and Vermeer). However, Csók's "holland style" paintings cannot be dismissed as inferior copies of the 17th century masters'genre pictures; rather, they can be understood as works depicting the nostalgic, idealized version of daily life in the Dutch golden age that Csók and his contemporaries re-imagined in their own time. > (cat. 63-65) XVIII. EMESE RÉVÉSZ Züzü pictures István Csók's and Júlia Nagy's one and only child, Júlia Csók (Juliette, nicknamed Züzü) was born in Paris on December 21, 1909. Her family moved to Budapest shortly afterwards. Csók's first work featuring his daughter was painted in 1910, the last in 1925. The artist's child not only modelled for but was featured in a total of 13 works between the dates, of which the most significant period was from 1910-1914. This period has been characterised as a renaissance of research and works related to children, both in Hungary and on the international scene. The theme of the first three pieces of the Züzü cycle represents the arrival of the newborn in the adult world. Csók was attempting to show the cultural determination of being a child in these works. The earliest piece of the series is Züzü's First Walk. (cat. 67) This piece combines everything that is essential for Csók at this turning point in his life: the bank of the Danube in Mohács, his baby in her stroller and the representatives of the two world orders: the Socac peasant woman in her celebration dress, and the artist's beautiful wife in her Parisian dress.There are carefully selected objects from the studio in the foreground of Népszínház Street and it is only the background where there is the mother with her daughter in her lap. The child is depicted surrounded by cultural artifacts, such as a bronze sculpture of a Chinese horseman, a piece of a classic head sculpture, and an ornamented rococo clock. The third piece of the Züzü series is Züzü in the Stroller, (cat. 68) The 5-year-old girl's world is the centre of the next pictures of the series: a world filled with toys, the world that is filled with her own toys and has her own orders. In the Züzü with the Rooster (cat. 71) she is surrounded by objects similar to her size: children furniture, small piano with a clown. Csók places his daughter in a similarly gorgeous environment in the portrait of Züzü is III. (XVIII.7) A typical characteristic of the childlike way of thinking is the blurring of fantasy and reality. This is the basic idea of Züzü under the Christmas Tree (cat. 73) as well, in which Züzü plays with her dolls for whom she's pretending to host at a small table.The painter's studio is an emphasised and symbolic space in the case of the Züzü is dancing (cat. 77), where Csók's most important works can be seen behind the dancing girl dressed in white. The portrait of Vera Réthi (1923) has significant similarities with the ten-year-old Züzü-pictures. (cat. 85) The scene is in the studio, T I
