Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Gergely Barki: Czóbel from Paris to Paris 1903-1925
SERIES OF EXHIBITIONS - COLLECTORS During this period in Berlin, Czóbel was an exceptionally active presence in the art world, appearing at exhibitions several times a year in different locations. At the end of 1922, a journalist for the Viennese periodical Panorama wrote: “His paintings, these pieces which are seeking simple expression, are visiting the German cities, reaching every venue where the German art trade is able to pick and choose whom they value.”105 Already during the first summer spent in Würzburg, he told sanders about his exhibition plans; however, to our knowledge, of the exhibitions he anticipated in Septemberi920 (in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hannover), only the event at Ludwig Schames’ Gallery in Frankfurt came to pass.106 The galerie Schames specialized in showcasing the cream of the Berlin Expressionism, like the other Berlin galleries where Czóbel had exhibitions during this period. He was passed from hand to hand, and many of the gallery owners not only exhibited his works, but also bought them. They included, among many others, Fritz Goldschmidt and Victor Wallerstein, who in their common gallery (Galerie dr. Goldschmidt - dr. Wallerstein, Berlin) displayed Czóbel’s works in several individual and collective exhibitions.107The two gallery owners bought Czóbel’s best pieces, along with the works by Kokoschka, Müller and Schmidt-Rottluff. Still, the bulk of these items have only survived in black-and-white reproductions. They were lost during World War II. In 1921, in the collective exhibition which was opened in the Salon Heller, he was featured together with Erich Heckei, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Lyonéi Feininger and many others. Just after this, 130. Interior ofthe Galerie Ferdinand Möller in Berlin, “Kreis der Brücke” EXHIBITION, 1923. BERLIN, BERLINISCHE GALERIE 105 [n.a.]: “Magyar piktorok Berlinben [Hungarian Painters in Berlin]”, Panorama (Wien), 3 December 1922, ed. 47, pp 25-27. 106 The Goldschmidt Company, which had a relationship with Czóbel during this period, also had a section in Frankfurt. Lajos Tihanyi similarly tried to organize an exhibition with them, but they politely declined him (Hungarian National Gallery, Archives, Inv. No. 18784/73). In a message to Czóbel on Hamburg’s Kunstverein letterhead, Theodor Brodersen writes that the exhibition in the Kunstverein could not be organized due to the lack of time, but Brodersen offers to exhibit his work in the Hansa Werkstätten exhibition (Budapest, Petőfi Literary Museum, Manuscript Archive, Inv. No. V. 3481/10. I would personally like to thank Csilla Markója, Orsolya Hessky and István Bardoly for their help in reading this letter). Brodersen was working at the Hansa Werkstätten (Schweiger, Werner J.: “Kunsthandel der Moderne”. Source: kunsthandel-der-moderne.eu/content/view/21/36/). This is why he offers Czóbel this option, which we do not know if he accepted in the end. In Gyula Szentiványi’s biographical collection, it was mentioned that Czóbel “held collective exhibitions in Frankfurt, Dresden, Hamburg, Magdeburg, etc.” (Szentiványi, Gyula: Lexicon Collection, 2521, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Department of Humanities, Hungarian Institute of History, Lexicon Collection). Still, without the dates we are unable to identify these exhibitions. in the same year, he was exhibited among the work ofthe Expressionists in the Freie Secession section of the Akademie der Künste Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung. Three of his works were 131. Béla Czóbel: Interior, 1923. Missing CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER 92
