Veszprémi Nóra - Jávor Anna - Advisory - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2005-2007. 25/10 (MNG Budapest 2008)

NEW ACQUISITIONS, NEW RESULTS - Marianna KOLOZSVÁRY: A Maticska-turned-Nagy

MARIANNA KOLOZSVÁRY A Maticska-turned-Nagy ISTVÁN NAGY: LANDSCAPE, 1910 (Colour Plate XI) Oil on canvas, 92x105 cm Signed below right: Nagy István 1910 Inv. no.: 58.30 T The following comments on a picture entitled Landscape in the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery, which was wrongly attributed to Jenő Maticska (1885-1906) until recently, are regrettable in the sense that they again rob a work from this exuberantly talented artist whose oeuvre nonetheless remained rather small due to his tragically early death. However, as a positive side effect of this fact finding, the lifework of Maticska - though modest in size, but rich in artistry - may become far more unified, as the work in question, at odds with his whole output, finally finds its proper place. The National Gallery bought the picture from the State Commissioned-Goods Shop (BÁV) in Szent István körút in 1958 in order to enrich its collection with a painting by Jenő Maticska, a member of the Nagybánya School. Its identification was based on the Maticska signature at its lower right-hand comer. Landscape was later reproduced in colour in Jenő Murádin's tome on Jenő Maticska.' Lacking permission to travel in the 1980s, the Kolozsvár art historian could not do any research in Budapest, and thus did not question the authenticity of the data and photos the National Gallery had sent him. In the course of a revision in the early 1990s, it struck some scholars that the signature of István Nagy is wanly visible underneath that of Maticska. In spite of this, the picture was displayed as work by Maticska at The Art of Nagybánya exhibition. Here, both Endre Aszalós and Tamás Kieselbach argued for the authorship of István Nagy (18731937). After removing the signature of Maticska, which had clearly been superscribed subsequently for reasons unknown, the autograph "Nagy István 1910" underneath became clearly visible. That this painting was a work of the brush of István Nagy, and that it cannot be attributed to Jenő Maticska, is not only proved by the apparently authentic signature of the former, but also by the fact that the personalities, careers and thus the painting styles of the two were quite different. Perhaps only their unfathomable love of nature and their humility to art were common to them both. Maticska never had any problems with finding his own particular style. At only thirteen, the open, friendly boy was received into the company of the progressive painters of the Nagybánya School. 1. István Nagy: Landscape, 1910. HNG His teachers recognized his talents early; his work was corrected by the likes of Hollósy, Réti, Ferenczy, Iványi Grünwald. Actually, he got everything ready-made Nagybánya had developed, and applied it all with originality and individual gusto. In contrast, István Nagy had to tackle the problems other painters of his time had to face, namely: he had to drop academic conservatisms in order to ensure his own development. With his inherited Székely doggedness and his personal lonesomeness, Nagy sought to go on his quest by himself. Wherever he turned up in all the world, whatever modern type of painting he was acquainted with, the impressions he gathered would never leave their mark on his work. He was never overcome by the lure of forms, incorporating into his work only that which he had himself fought for, which he himself had experienced on the way to the essence of his subject matter, the "inner fidelity" to it. This was how and why his art became so unique and so powerful. However, finding his way took significantly longer, also. After the "worlds of isms" in Munich and Paris, he chose the wilderness of Transylvania as the scene of his studies. "There is no other school," he professed. From the be2. The fake Maticska signature