Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
48. BÉLA CZÓBEL: PARIS STREET, 1905. PRIVATE COLLECTION 20 I hereby thank meteorologist Beáta Révész of the National Meteorological Service for her help. 21 Béla Czóbel’s postcard mailed from Budapest to György Bölöni on 6 May 1906. Petőfi Literary Museum, Archive, Inv. No. V.4132/102/1 (György Bölöni’s legacy). 22 At that time, one could see Rippl- Rónai’s loudly acclaimed exhibition at the Kálmán Könyves Salon. If Czóbel did not see the exhibition itself, he could have seen the auction that followed it. 23 “Dear Bölönyi, [sic!] have you got the pictures from the Indepandant [sic!] and the one which was in London? Don’t send the portrait of Frim. Leave it there. I will be in Paris at the end of September without fail. On the 12th, I travel to Nagybánya, and I will work INTERMEZZO IN BUDAPEST AND THE LAST SUMMER SPENT IN NAGYBÁNYA The works Czóbel sent to the Salon des Indépendants in 1906 were no less than eight canvases, but he himself did not go to see the exhibition, since it is absolutely certain that he was already in Budapest five days before the vernissage. The scholarly literature has made no mention of his stay in Budapest, but a few years ago, a painting cropped up which - like a missing link - also provides insight into the creation of other pictures from that time. The focus of the cityscape in question (Plate 50) follows most closely the schema of the Parisian marketplace pictures. Also, the human figures reduced to chess-piece abstraction reflect his endeavours at form reduction, which made an impression on his future studio-mate, Modigliani. Clearly, on the basis of style, it is akin to his known pictures from around 1905-1906; however, the theme offers such concrete clues that we are able to date its composition precisely to the day. In spite of the fact that, at first glance, the subject strikes us as alien to Czóbel’s known works; nonetheless, the Hungarian flags hanging from the fagades of typical Budapest tenements, the snowfall and sight of already snowy rooftops betray not only the exact time of the painting’s creation, but its exact location as well. From contemporary weather reports it can be gathered that 44 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
