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

LÓRÁND BERECZKY: The First Fifty Years - 50™ ANNIVERSARY OF THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY - Krisztina PASSUTH: Back Home Again: The Paris-Budapest Odyssey of the Tihanyi Estate

KRISZTINA PASSUTH Back Home Again: The Paris-Budapest Odyssey of the Tihanyi Estate I. THE FATE OF THE TIHANYI ESTATE Totally unawares, I was drawn into the affair of transporting the Paris estate of Lajos Tihanyi (1885-1938) back to Hungary in the summer of 1970 upon a decision brought by the Ministry of Culture. The almost forty-year-old story might be of interest because it concerns the oeuvre of one of the most important Hungarian avant-garde painters. Starting out in the 1900s, Tihanyi first aligned himself with the Hungarian Neos and Fauves, then went on to try his hand at expressionism, cubism and even futurism to finally reach geometric abstraction in the 1930s, producing masterpieces both at home and abroad. Until 1919, he had had a role in the Nagybánya artists' colony, among the "Hungarian Fauves" in Paris, and the Hungarian avant-garde groupings The Eights and the Activists. Then, during his stay in Vienna and Berlin and after finally settling down in Paris, he developed an expressive and individual style few of his contemporaries could boast. In Paris, he adopted the stylistic features of French geometric abstraction, and joined the Abstraction-Création Group. Following his death in 1938, his estate remained in Paris, but happily it did not disintegrate or get lost thanks to the offices of three good friends, Brassai' (Gyula Halász), Jacques de la Frégonnière and Ervin Preiss Marton, who preserved it even during the vicissitudes of the Second World War.

1 All I know about the reason why Tihanyi 's retrospective was arranged only in 1970, several decades late, is what I have been able to gather from the letters and recollections that have come down to us. Originally, there had been plans fostered by his old friends (Frégonnière, Marton and Brassai) to arrange a memorial exhibition for the 25

th anniversary of his death, but they did not materialize until much later.

2 In the following reconstruction of the story, I have primarily had recourse to the published literature (first and foremost, the two-volume monograph by Valéria Majoros)

3

, the records in the Documentation Department of the Hungarian National Gallery,

4 my own recollections and article.

5 Even on the basis of all these, no full and authentic reconstruction is possible,

6 missing links and blank spots continue to remain. The first official letter concerning the Tihanyi estate I know of was written by Anna Oelmacher, the head of the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Hungarian National Gallery, on July 31, 1968, and was addressed to the head of the Museums Department of the Ministry of Culture, Antal Gönyei.

7 In her brief, she stated that she had examined the paintings stored at the Hungarian Institute in Paris in the summer of 1968, and that she had found them in a state of total desiccation. An approximate list of the paintings had already been compiled, and she herself put together an inventory of the drawings on the basis of the numbering and definitions by Brassai'.

8 The next letter I am aware of was written by Gábor Ö. Pogány, the director general of the National Gallery, a year and a half later, dated January 8, 1970. In this, he designated Zsuzsa D. Fehér as the curator of the Paris memorial exhibition, and commissioned Mrs. Ervin Cséka, a restorer at the National Gallery, to repair the artworks in Paris.

9 In view of these two documents, it is rather surprising that, after a month and a half, on February 23, departmental head Antal Gönyei sent him a list of the paintings that "M. de la Frégonnière selected and restored for the exhibition."

10 The question whether Jacques de la Frégonnière actually had restored the pictures or no, and in what way, has not been clarified. But the fact that the National Gallery restorer could not fulfil her task is clear from a brief by Zsuzsa D. Fehér." In her letter, she reported that, in spite of all, the exhibition was finally opened at the Galerie Entremonde in Paris on April 7, 1970; however, only thirty-one pictures were put on display, the ones selected by Brassai at the Hungarian Institute. Due to restoration costs, no drawings were exhibited. "The oils were hung in a bad condition, without cleaning [...] The warped boards and wrinkled canvases will have to undergo thorough restoration before exhibition at home...," stated D. Fehér. Neither was a catalogue published, a stencilled list with a short biography and Brassa'i's commemorative words in French being handed out to visitors. If we take into account that the Galerie Entremonde hardly belonged to the better-known Paris galleries, we may assume that the exhibition did not arouse the kind of attention Brassai* had probably expected it to. However, the Hungarian press did report it.

12 Two other matters turned out from the brief by Zsuzsa D. Fehér. First: "I gave a few of Tihanyi's personal relics - photos and engravings made of him - to the Institute. These will be brought home together with the full estate." I surmise that this sentence may have referred to the contents of the "Tihanyi chest", which was later to acquire particular significance, and which is mentioned nowhere else.

13 Zsuzsa D. Fehér also stated that Brassai had written letters to various museums to choose a picture each from the Tihanyi estate so a trace of his work would be left in Paris, too. As far as the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris is concerned, the selection did take place, but the works chosen were not handed over. Finally, D. Fehér's brief reported: "The planned transport home failed to take place due to official difficulties." According to her,