Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Emőke Bodonyi: Czóbel's water colours and graphic works
177. BÉLA CZÓBEL: PORTRAIT OF A BOY (ON THE REVERSE: PORTRAIT of a boy), 1923. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts - Hungarian National Gallery 178. Béla Czóbel: Portrait of a man (on the reverse: Water colour Still-life), 1920s. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts - Hungarian National Gallery effect with light colours (Plates 158 and 159). The Paris cityscape in the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery has a similar composition to oil paintings, it has a ligther effect thanks to its technique than the heavier oil paintings (Plate 160). The milder effect of the expression was mentioned by Ernő Kállai in connection with Czóbel in the catalogue of a water colour exhibition in the Frankel Salon in 1936: “New painting has a loose composition, and its plastic colours make us feel the painter’s strong intention.”34 Undoubtedly, the most interesting group beside the large size water colours is the group of lithographs and etchings from the first half of the twenties, from the Berlin period. These were better known to the public as a result of publishing the works of artists who were active in Germany.35 Czóbel got acquainted with the famous German Expressionist artists, he belonged to the best of European art not only during the Fauve period in Paris, but also in Berlin. During their stay abroad Hungarian artists - among them Károly Kernstok, Béla Czóbel, Lajos Tihanyi - were ready to make etchings and lithographs, and were mainly attracted by late German Expressionism, its psychologizing branch. The artists working among more modest circumstances caused by the post-war bad economic situation were primarily able to sell water colours and drawings. Rich buyers were not interested in real talents, the purpose of acquisition was simply speculative in the case of outstanding artists, so to the younger generation turned to graphic pieces cheaply vendible. An etching costed ten, a woodcut eight, a drawing between twenty and twenty five cents, water colours were sold for one dollar.36 Czóbel’s lithographs and etchings were published in one of the most important from among the several albums of the age, Die Schaffenden (1918-1932), edited by Paul Westheim.37 The issue of this periodical was not restricted to a calendar year, and yearly three or four albums were 34 The Exhibition of the Water Colours of Vilmos Aba-Novák, Aurél Bernáth, Róbert Berény, Béla Czóbel, János Kmetty and others. Budapest: Frankel Salon, 6-28 September 1936. Czóbel’s two works were displayed: Hut and Landscape. 35 Bajkay, Éva: “Tendenciák és kötődések a németországi magyar grafikában [Tendencies and Ties in the Hungarian Graphics in Germany]”, In: A magyar grafika külföldön. Németország 7979-7933 [Hungarian Graphics Abroad. Germany 1919-1933]. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 1982, p 9. Bajkay, Éva: “Die Schaffenden / Az alkotók.” In: Modern magyar litográfia: 1890-1930 [Modern Hungarian Lithography: 1890-1930]. Miskolc: Miskolci Galéria, 1998, pp 137-139. 36 Crockett, Dennis: German Post- Expressionism: The Art of the Great Disorder, 7978-7924. Penn State Press, 1999, p 30. 37 A selected publication of the first three issues of the graphic albums: Die Schaffenden, Vol. 1-3. Leipzig- Weimar: Kiepenhauer Verlag, 1984. CZÓBEL’S WATER COLOURS AND GRAPHIC WORKS 117
