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

HUNGARIAN FAUVES CASE STUDIES - GERGELY BARKI: Róbert Berény, the "Apprenti Fauve"

6. Róbert Berény in his Paris studio, cca. 1906-1907 Photo by Margit Vészi. Private collection landscapes. Of these, we only know The Roofs of Monaco (Fig. 3, Cat. No. 6), a painting that emerged a few years ago. Despite being a winter scene, it has loud colours glowing with fire, which testify for the artist's familiarity with Fauvism and reveal close relation with Marquet's works made during the same time. "We found no identifiable paintings from 1907 and 1908," Berény's monographer reported in 1961.

18 Then, in a shorter monograph on the artist, he claimed that Berény left France in 1906, only returning there in 1908.

19 However, on the basis of a large number of paintings and drawings, dated mostly from 1907 and signed with the word "Paris" added, we now believe that the year 1907 was in fact Berény's most productive period in Pans, one that had the greatest importance from the viewpoint of his Fauvist painting. In that year he mostly painted nudes. Besides the oil paintings, we know of about sixty of his drawings of nudes, some being executed in his own studio, some at Académie de la Grande-Chaumière, and the rest at Humbert Studio.

20 The nude painting Woman in front of a Mirror,

11 which reemerged less than a year ago, and which combines Primitivism with Cézannian and Fauvist elements (Fig. 9, Cat. No. 9) faithfully demonstrates how quickly Berény, the most progressive Hungarian artist with the best ability for fast reactions, was able to become a Fauve at the turn of 1906 and 1907. Having a sensitive disposition, he was able to integrate the stylistic marks of the period's most modern tendency. Keeping abreast of the development of the Fauves, and most notably of Matisse, he had become, by 1907, an "up-to-date" artist

—even by French standards. Rather than being a disciple of the "Fauvism of Collioure", Berény joined the Fauves as a late arrival, along with 7. Robert Berény: Reclining Nude (Nude Reclining on Sofa), 1906. Cat. No. 7.