Gosztonyi Ferenc szerk.: Munkácsy a nagyvilágban (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2005/1)

I. TANULMÁNYOK - MUNKÁCSY A NAGYVILÁGBAN - BOROS Judit: Egy magyar festő Párizsban. Munkácsy Mihály pályája 1870 és 1896 között

43. kép Edouard Manet: Abszintivó / Edouard Manet: Man Drinking Absynthe, 1858-1859. képén friss, elemi erővel szabadni fel az evangéliumnak az évszázadok folyamán konvencióvá merevedett mély drámaisága; valósággal kálvinista kép a Krisztus Pilátus előtt, mert a Biblia egyszerű közvetlenséggel, a nép nyelvén szólal meg, és az egyszerűségükben mély és megindító emberi érzések lépnek a hűvösen kimért szertartásosság helyébe. [...] A tömeg elrendezése olykor zavaros és egyenetlen. A népből hiányzik az egységes lendület. De ki venne ilyesmit észre, mikor egyszerre ellenállhatatlan természetességgel, meggyőző jelenvalóságában ott áll előtte az ezerszer elképzelt jelenet; mikor látja a halált követelő ezertorkú vad indulatot, mikor látja, hogy a vádlók sötét öltözetű, árnyéklepett tömege milyen szenvedélyesen és konokul hömpölyög Jézus hófehér alakja, az ártatlanság szirtje felé; mikor megdöbben ezeken a megfigyelés hallatlan erejével feltámasztott régi zsidókon, elkeseredésükön, reszkető felindulásukon; mikor ott vívódik előtte Pilátus; a képről áradó izgalommal szemben nincsen ellenállás és nincsen objektivitás [kiemelés tőlem — B. [.]." Ezeket a szavakat egy olyan ember írta, aki csak when one can see a crowd blind with passion scream for the death sentence, when one can see the accusers' dark and shadowy mass surging overpoweringly and unstoppably towards Christ's snow-white figure, who is the rock of innocence; when one watches with astonishment these old Jews, resurrected by the incredible power of observation, embittered and trembling with emotions; when one observes the hesitant Pilate; against the excitement that the picture radiates, any resistance or any objectivity is useless," (My italics — J. B.) These words were written by a man who had only seen the composition in reproduction, because its reduction had still not been brought to Hungary by 1910. We may add to this that the monumental size and the panoramic presentation were indispensable elements of the Christcompositions.

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'' Munkácsy deliberately wanted to blur the boundary between the picture space and the space in which the spectators were moving, so as to make the viewers feel that they were directly taking part in the drama. With this, he essentially took the idea of allégorie réelle, which Courbet had originated, to one of its logical conclusions.

68 (III. 44) As Katalin Sinkó candidly put it, the road from here led directly to the 20

,h century's genre par excellence, the cinema.

69 THE PARIS LIFESTYLE OF THE MUNKÁCSYS Numerous Hungarian critics disapproved of the Munkácsys' luxurious upper-class lifestyle, claiming that this had put extra pressure on the master to work harder. The charges were mainly levelled against Madame Munkácsy, so much so that in public opinion she has still been regarded as an evil spirit. Although Munkácsy himself complained in numerous letters about the oppressive burden of social obligations, he never suggested that his wife was to blame for this. Sometimes he teasingly scolded Cécile for her extravagant spending, bur these criticisms never went beyond the usual admonitions of a husband. The reason why Madame Munkácsy attracted too much attention was perhaps that, as lady of the house, she took the larger share of the work of social entertainment. At the heart of every salon in Paris, there was a woman. "A salon above else means a woman. And preferably a witty one," Anne Martin-Fugier declared in her work about the salons of the 1 bird Republic. 0 However, nor every dinner party or reception qualified as a salon.

71 A salon always supposed a relatively closely knitted group of people, who met on a regular basis. One could not just walk into a salon; quite the contrary, one needed to have excellent connections before gaining admission. Furthermore, it was necessary for the lady of the house, especially after 1848, to have a noble ancestry, because this lent the salon a certain historical continuity. Certain salons welcomed artists as guests, although people's expectations in this regards varied quite a lot: in some salons artists were expected to entertain the other guests, while elsewhere they were invited as civilians, and were expected to conceal their profession. The Friday receptions of the Munkácsys were not what properly could be called salons. Theirs was an open house