Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Mimi Kratochwill: Béla Czóbel's mature period, 1925-1976
256. Béla Czóbel: Mon ami Michel, 1926. Private collection 257. Béla Czóbel: Woman in the Garden, 1930. Private collection The work was praised by the critics9 and it purchased by the French minister for education. This picture, now owned by the Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art modern, Centre de Création Industrielle in Paris, was shown in many venues in France, including the exhibition hall of the castle in Compiégne, but until the present exhibition it was not possible to display it to the Hungarian public. Czóbel participated at the exhibitions of the Hungarian association KÚT (New Association of Visual Artists) with one work each time. He sent his picture Rue Mouffetard (titled as Street Detail at the time) to the National Salon’s exhibition of 1936. The Hungarian public also had the chance to view his depictions of his other favourite streets, Rue Vavin and Rue Vital (Plate 308). These compositions by Czóbel truly exude the ambience of Paris and the French atmosphere with bustling crowds, testifying to his love of the city, to which he was devoted until the end of his life. He sometimes even visited back to Hungary. In 1936 his friend, Ferenc Lehel, the painter and art writer, invited him to Szentendre, where, in his home, several of Czóbel’s pictures were hanging on the walls. Czóbel experiences of this visitare recorded in some of his writings. While in Szentendre he became acquainted with the notable members of the local artists’ colony, including the painter Mária Modok, whose husband, Ede Perlaki, the chief secretary of the KÚT, was wholeheartedly committed to helping painters and other artists in their careers. In the following year Czóbel was again in Szentendre, and he even rented somewhere to live - on Istenhegy, according to the contemporary sources. Like other painters, Czóbel was also enchanted by the atmosphere of this little town and its environs. Czóbel’s influence can be perceived, if but temporarily, in the works of the artists who worked there during these summers, such as Jenő Barcsay Die XIX. Internationale Kunstausstellung in Venedig. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 1934, Issue 2 September. The only participant mentioned by name was Czóbel. BÉLA CZÓBEL’S MATURE PERIOD, 1925-1976 161
