Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 15. (2002)
Gáspár Ferenc: Kiűzve a tudatból, elzárva a lélek mélyére Rippl-Rónai és Oskar Kokoschka különleges kapcsolata
245 Rippl-Rónai commemorative meeting MÁRIA BERNÁTH - EDIT PLESZNIVY - JÁNOS HORVÁTH - MÁRIA FÖLDES - GÁSPÁR FERENC On the 140 th anniversary of the birth of József RipplRónai (25. May. 2001) the Rippl-Rónai Museum organised a series of programmes containing exhibitions and meetings. One of the exhibitions bore the title: „Rippl-Rónai and the Secession". The material in loan from a number of museums and private collections gave an insight to the applied arts activity of the artist. The curiosity of the other exhibition was a series of drawings packed up in a suitcase and found only after half a century. These drawings were made in France in 1914 in the birthplace of Rippl-Rónai wife at the break of the war. The title of the exhibition: „The unknown drawings of Rippl-Rónai". The lectures took place on the day of the opening. The five Rippl-Rónai researchers analysed the artist's life and creative activity through different themes. In her lecture Maria Bernáth centred her attention on the style of the artist. She stressed the multisided and multi-functioned nature of the artist's Postimpressionism. The artist gave brilliant reactions to all national provocation, which tried to bind art and to give it a false direction. In the Hungarian fine arts, missing Impressionism, it is Rippl-Rónai who „weaves in the thorn net of Hungarian art, with which it draws from Western European Modernism." - states the lecturer. Edit Plesznivy reported on her travel following the important stations of Rippl-Rónai's life in France. The one time home of the artist in Paris was demolished, but elsewhere the motifs of his French paintings could be traced. Photos of landscape and street structure illustrated her lecture with setting corresponding with the Rippl paintings. Mária Földes introduced Rippl-Rónai's letters giving an insight to the relationships of the artist. It came to light that his most intimate relationship was with his art collector brother, Ödön. Out of his 3 brothers he was the only person who appreciated the artistic aspirations of József Rippl-Rónai according to its own merit. In the letters the painter voices his affection and devotion, he teaches, sometimes scolds and encourages Ödön's improvement. János Horváth separated the component elements in the pastel art of Rippl-Rónai in his lecture. As pastel unifies the basis for drawing and painting, Rippl strong in the field of drawing favoured pastel. Issuing from France, it was his impact that created a school for pastel painting in Hungary. It is by no means accidental, that in the last decade of his life Rippl-Rónai only used this technique. Ferenc Gáspár gave a lecture on the relationship between Rippl-Rónai and Oskar Kokoschka. The two artists met in 1916 at the Italian front-line. The researcher takes into consideration the fact that the Austrian artist does not mention Rippl-Rónai in his biographic work. Was it due to his head injury and loss of memory or to some other cause is a question.
