Zwickl András szerk.: Árkádia tájain, Szőnyi István és köre 1918–1928. (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2001/3)

TANULMÁNYOK - ANDRÁS ZWICKL: The Pictures of the Ideal and the Real - The Arcadia Painting of the Szőnyi Circle

ANDRÁS ZWICKL The Pictures of the Ideal and the Real The Arcadia Painting of the Szőnyi Circle Franz Roh's book entitled Nach-Expressionismus was published in 1925. Truthful to its subtitle, it dealt with "the most recent problems of European painting", focusing on "the post-Expressionistic tendencies" of the years following the First World War. The common feature of these tendencies, which emerged roughly simultaneously in the various countries, was that - partly by assimilating the results of Cubism and Expressionism - they returned to the traditional genres and to a more realistic vocabulary of forms. The revival of the earlier iconographie and compositional types was often associated with Renaissance archetypes, with the result that even artworks of contemporary subject-matter were permeated with the aura of old art. Picasso, the pioneer of Cubism, led the field in launching a new, Neo-Classical period in his oeuvre in the second half of the 1 91 Os. He was promptly followed by other artists, including the two Futurists, Carra and Severini, who abandoned their Avant-garde period in favour of a more traditional type of painting. The classicising tendencies of the 1920s formed a colourful spectrum, ranging from Picasso to Dix, and from de Chirico to Foujita, as demonstrated by the numerous illustrations in NachExpressionismus Roh's book reveals that even then people made efforts to find the common denominator of the diverging tendencies, either by contrasting them with the various "isms" or by defining themselves in relation to themz In explaining the subtitle Magic Realism Roh proposed, in addition to "ideal realism" and "verism", the term "Neo-Classicism" as a possible designation, and even used the three expressions almost as synonimsz But these terms refer to slightly different phenomena. This new art assumed somewhat different shapes in the various countries and, accordingly, the local versions received different designations; also, the usage of the term "Neo-Classicism" varied from country to country as well as from period to period.

; The tendency of classicisation encompassed a large number of varieties, from Picasso's monumental "Ingresism" and Severini's compositions of metaphysical atmosphere populated with puppet-like figures to the detached and elaborate realism of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and verism tinted with strong social criticism. At the one end there was the objective representation of contemporary reality, completely free of idealisation; this has usually been referred to in the literature either as "new realism" or as some other kind of "realism". At the opposite end there were those artists who created a timeless, idealistic world, a Golden Age or an Arcadia, in their compositions. It is the latter type that is customarily termed as "NeoClassicism". What these artists had in common was that they tried to establish a new synthesis of permanence and order, striving for some kind of a "classicism: or completeness"."' A consistent terminology regarding the various schools within the movement has still not been established, partly because the studies usually confine their scope to certain partial areas, primarily the artists and groups of Western Europe, while a comprehensive international survey is still to be written."- These tendencies were not confined to Western Europe. Several artists from Central and Eastern Europe joined the Western-European, and most notably the French, art scene, while there were numerous artists and art groups which represented the school of Neo-Classicism inside their own countries, and their importance is evidenced from contemporary publications. One example is Adolf Kuhn's book Polnische Kunst von 1800 bis zur Gegenwart (1930), published by Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag, the same as Roh's book. It discussed the history of Polish art up to the most recent phenomena, concluding the book with a description of art groups with classicising tendencies, such as the art circle of Vilnius (Wiletískie Towarzystwo Artystów Plastyków) and St. Luke's Brotherhood (Bractwo sw. tukasza).

8 Hungarian art was no exception in that regard. Ernő Kállai, a Hungarian art critic living in Germany, discussed a quarter of a century of Hungarian painting ending with 1 925, in a book entitled Neue Malerei in Ungarn, which was published in 1925, the same year as Roh's book, and by the same publishers. In the last chapter entitled Neuklassizismus und - ? Kállai concluded his book with an outlook on contemporary developments, accompanied by the reproductions of Sándor Bortnyik's "enlightened, sceptical and settled" compositions displaying a distinct Neue Sachlichkeit flavour. Kállai contrasted this "Neo-Classicism" with an earlier group of phenomena, as the Hungarian neo-classical tendencies were not related to Neue Sachlichkeit. The painting of István Szőnyi and his circle formed one of the most notable schools in the first half of the decade. Their compositions feature nudes set in an Arcadian, idyllic and heroic landscape, while their heavy and sculpturesque portraits and powerful and animated self-portraits imbue with a radiant spirituality. The main artists of the movement, in addition to István Szőnyi, were Vilmos