Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)

Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925

At that time, he began to depict the neighbourhood of his painting school and studio, the streets of Montparnasse. One from 1904, portraying houses on the Rue Vavin - now, however, sadly missing - was a small picture which undoubtedly made him very proud later. Indeed, it was on display at a retrospective Indépendants exhibition in 1926.7 What is more, the following year, it was even sent to America - where Claude Roger-Marx’s recollection of the luckily still extant picture was included in the catalogue for the independent exhibition at the Brummer Gallery.7 8

In the very same year, it is certain that he completed two other streetscapes in the studio of Jenő Mester, his sculptor friend who lived on Rue Notre-Dame des Champs (Plates 36 and 37). The picture that has just turned up in Denmark influenced the dating of the other, long-known Kaposvár version.9 10

Meanwhile, otheryoung compatriots were coming together in Paris. At the start of the following year, he produced the Portrait of a Young Man, presumably immortalizing his good friend Baron Ferenc Hatvany, who also resided in Paris then (Plate 33).1CI Similarly, he painted a portrait of Andor Dobai- Székely, his young painter friend, with whom he also resided for a time in Belgium in the summer of 1905 (Plate 34).

33. Béla Czóbel: Portrait of a Young Man, 1905. Private collection

34. Left, Béla Czóbel: Portrait

of Andor Dobai-Székely, 1905. Missing

35. Right, Béla Czóbel: Self-portrait, AROUND 1905-1906. MISSING

7 Trent ans d’Art Indépendant Rétrospective de 1884 á 1914 de la Société des artistes Indépendants, catalogue. Paris, 1926.

8 “Une petite toile, miraculeusement échappée á la destruction, montre que, lorsqu’il peignait, á Läge de vingt ans, les immeubles de la rue Vavin, Czóbel était déjá lui-méme.” Roger-Marx, Claude: “Czóbel”. In: Czóbel Exhibition (17 January - 12 February 1927), catalogue. New York: The Brummer Gallery, 1927, [n.p.]..

9 I owe thanks to Birgit Meister, Jenő Mester’s granddaughter who lives in Copenhagen, for bringing the picture and the related information to my attention.

10 Besides Hatvany, Attila Rum has mentioned Valér Ferenczy among the possible subjects for the portrait (Rum, Attila: “Czóbel, Béla: Portrait of a Young Man, 1905”. In: Judit Virág Gallery’s 22nd Auction, catalogue, Inv. No. 128). I, myself, would rule out the latter.

CZÓBEL FROM PARIS TO PARIS, 1903-1925

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