Passuth Krisztina – Szücs György – Gosztonyi Ferenc szerk.: Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya 1904–1914 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2006/1)

AT HOME AND ABROAD - KRISZTINA PASSUTH: Wild Beasts of Hungary Meet Fauves in France

Obviously, the fact that the Hungarian artists concerned did not lay claim to the title of "Hungarian Fauves" ought not to be relegated as a mere question of terminology. To a considerable extent, the Hungarian painters learned their trade in the various private art schools in Paris, gaining familiarity with the contemporary and the old artistic styles, techniques and movements mostly during their visits to the museums, salons and private collections of Paris. Having said that, those who spent a longer time in Nagybánya probably had stronger emotional ties to master-painters teaching there and to the spirit of the free school than they did to Matisse or their colleagues in Paris. This was true even when they no longer subscribed to the set of values established in Nagybánya's first decade, or when they challenged the views of the older masters and continuously argued with them, as well as with each other. And this remained so even after they had left the school or no longer required the more conservative masters' criticism and advice. To the end, especially in terms of attitude, the sense of belonging to Nagybánya was stronger then any tie with the French Fauves. Probably the only exception in this regard was Béla Czóbel, who exhibited his works already at the first Fauve exhibition in 1905, at the Salon d'Automne of historical importance, where Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and others were together (although Czóbel was not in the famous Room VII, where the hard core of the Fauve painters showed their works). Indeed, in the following two decades French art critics still referred to Béla Czóbel as one of the earliest Fauve painters. (In his first comprehensive study of the Fauve painters, Michel Puy only mentioned Czóbel's name as an example of a Fauve painter from outside France.)

8 If we look at 20th-century Hungarian painting from today's perspective, and in view of recent international research, it seems that the Hungarian Fauves were much better qualified to that label than they themselves had been aware of at the time. The term "Hungarian Fauves" has a historical significance in so far as the majority of the painters concerned did visit the French capital in the period from 1904 through 1908, with some of them even staying there for extended periods of time. The young Hungarian artists enrolled in the French art schools, such as the Julian Academy, or the private schools of Colarossi, or La Grande-Chaumière, as did their colleagues, French and non-French alike. Perhaps even more importantly, some of them also frequented Matisse's private art school after 1908, or made the acquaintance of the French master even earlier. Those who attended the art schools, as well as the other Hungarians in Paris, kept in contact and exchanged information about the latest trends; they visited the exhibitions of galleries and salons, as well as the private collectors (Gertrude, Leo, Michael and Sarah Stein, Ambroise Vollard, etc.) or the masters in their studios. They were no mere passive onlookers but took an active part in French art life by exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne (see a separate study on this and a list in the Appendix), as well as at the Galerie Berthe Weill. They sat around in the cafés of the Dôme first and then the Rotonde later, in the company of painters and collectors, having discussions or heated arguments, they tried to sell their paintings and copied paintings in the Louvre. Therefore, they were there, historically as well as individually. Some of them, like Vilmos Perlrott Csaba and Géza Bornemisza, belonged to Matisse's inner circle of students, while others, like Róbert Berény, formed part of his larger circle. All this is borne out by the evidence of contemporary documents, notes and memoirs. From the French point of view, and in a historical context, Béla Henri Matisse: Jeune fille à l'ombrelle, 1905 Musée Matisse, Nice © Succession H. Matisse IHUNGART 2006 Czóbel comes closest to belonging to the Fauves, and not only because of his presence at the 1905 Autumn Salon. It was hardly a coincidence that when the American critique, Gelett Burgess, made interviews with seven artists on Matisse's advice, Czóbel was among the ones being picked.

9 Much more important, however then the chronology of events were the parallels in style and approach. The validity of the term "Hungarian Fauve" is first of all justified because throughout the period in question

—not only in Paris but also in Nagybánya, Budapest, Nyergesújfalu and Kaposvár—these artists produced Fauve compositions, or in any case painted in the same spirit as their French colleagues, and they did that practically simultaneously, or perhaps with a couple of years' delay at the most. On the other hand, these compositions possessed autonomous artistic values, despite the fact that, in addition to the Hungarian traditions, initially the artists also drew on the compositional system, palette and patchwork-like structure of French Fauvism. However, they adapted all this to their own temperament and then further developed it. The stylistic solutions of the Hungarian Fauves are related to one another just as much as they are related to the stylistic solutions of their French colleagues. One can generally say that in comparison to their French predecessors, the Hungarian Fauves tended to be more realistic in their portrayal of nature. In general, a certain down-to-earth solidity prevailed in their portraits, landscapes and still-lifes alike. Their compositions were never as transparent, ethereal and insubstantial as Matisse's visionary land-