Klemmné Németh Zsuzsa szerk.: Árkádiától Zebegényig. A zebegényi művészkolónia 1928–42 között (Pest Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 2003)

of expressiveness," Lajos Németh wrote of the period before 1935 in "Modem Magyar Művészet" 6 After starting out as a non-figurative expressionalist, Aurél Bernáth, like Szőnyi, reached back to the roots of modern Hungarian painting. As a member of the Gresham group, he tried to revive the spirit of the founders of the Nagybánya school. Under the influence of Szőnyi and Bernáth, many artists settled temporarily in Zebegény with the intention of recreating the lost Golden Age symbolised by Nagybánya. In his article "Kati bácsi kocsmája", which captures the atmosphere of the Zebegény colony, Bernáth recalls a deep memory: "This is how we celebrated (at Kati bácsi's pub) at 10pm on August 31, 1939, a few hours before World War Two broke out." 7 Even though everything was against them, they always tried to retain the freshness of spirit, humanity and the cheerfulness that radiates from their pictures, Even artists whose early style bore the stamp of cubism followed Szőnyi to Zebegény, where their painting became looser and more lyrical. One of them was Imre Szobotka, who turned away from the avant garde style after returning to Hungary, where his painting became more restrained. He regularly set up his easel on the banks of the stream and Zebegény street scenes became his permanent motif over the years. Zoltán Freytag and Béla Ducsay 's Danube Bend landscapes show a relationship with István Szőnyi's works from his dry period. Their hard contours and their depiction of solid light differentiate them from the rest of the group, who leant towards impressionism. Two painters who worked in the spirit of L'Ecole de Paris - Elemér Vass and Géza Vörös - often spent summers in Zebegény. Vass built a house near Szőnyi's and it was here that his painting, albeit still French-influenced, really flourished. The fledgling artists' colony attracted painters with different driving forces. Two of the Nyolcak group, founded in 1909, spent some time in Zebegény. Dezső Czigány only visited the village occasionally but immortalised its countryside through his own version of the strictly structured compositions learnt from Cézanne. The exhibition contains a slightly earlier self-portrait in which the landscape is an important part of the composition. Róbert Berény was one of the most influential and loyal members of the Zebegény artists' colony. A member the Nyolcak, he was a major force in the creation of the Hungarian avant garde. Berény was forced to leave Hungary after the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, His initial creative surge faded and he stopped painting altogether for a time. On his return to Hungary in the mid1930s, however, he joined the Gresham group, which was trying to recreate the Nagybánya school. Summarising this period, Lajos Németh said, "he expresses the reflective, lyrical lifestyle in carefully chosen colours"

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. After the stormy start to his career and the time spent abroad, Berény found his home in Zebegény. He rented a house not far from Szőnyi's and became an important part of Zebegény's social life. For many summers, he worked in the streets of the village, discovering its hidden beauties. His discovery of the landscape retuned his entire style, as seen in painting such as Faluvége and Estefelé Zebegényben. Beyond the core of the group, painters such as Gyula Pap, Miklós Göllner, Zoltán Klie and Dénes Förstner spent short periods in Zebegény. Although the group grew to include 15-20 artists, it cannot really be considered a distinctive Zebegény school as it remained essentially a loose web of friendships. However, Zebegény's magical milieu left an eternal impression on those who experienced it, as can be seen in the pictures in this exhibition. Rózsa Köpöczi Medveczky Jenő Zebegényi táj " Németh Lajos: Modem magyar művészet, (Corvina, 1968), 80. ' Aurél Bernáth: Kati bácsi kutyája, Zebegényi tanú Vol. 2/1. January, 1993 " Ibid 5. 76.