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"

23. Róbert Berény: Female Nude Standing (Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, IV), 1907. Private collection 24. Robert Berény: Female Nude (Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, III.), 1907 Cat. No. 32. 25. Robert Berény: Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, II. 1907 Cat. No. 31. 26. Robert Berény: Sketch for the Montparnasse Nude, I. 1907 Cat. No. 30. The exhibition featured Portrait of Bertalan Pór (Fig. 19, Cat. No. 10), which Berény presumably painted immediately before a few-monthslong study trip that the two artists made in Italy. Berény and his former private tutor, who later became his co-member in Nyolcak, started out on their journey sometime in the first half of the year. Up until recently, it was not known whether Berény, too, produced any paintings during their "Grand Tour".

31 However, we have reason to believe that he painted the recently uncovered Fauvist landscape in early spring of 1907 somewhere in Southern Italy.

32 (Fig. 18) The two artists, who visited all the famous sites of Italy "from Venice to Capri",

33 were primarily impressed by the works of the Renaissance masters. Reminiscing about the event, Pór later revealed that, inspired by the example of the much admired Renaissance painters, they both grew a long beard during the trip. (Fig. 17)

34 Since the painting showed Berény's colleague and model with a beard, it is possible that he painted Pór's portrait after their return to Paris, but still before the opening of the Salon des Indépendants.

35 Berény continued to produce nude studies during the rest of the year. In connection with some of his drawings it has recently been discovered that he made them in preparation for a couple of oil paintings. In the past few years two of his paintings of decidedly Fauvist character emerged, depicting standing nude females: Nude of an Italian Girl (Fig. 20, Cat. No. 13) and Montparnasse Nude

36 (Fig. 32, Cat. No. 11). We do not know the actual graphical studies for Nude of an Italian Girl, in which Berény emulated Matisse's bold distortions, but we do have some drawings of models with similar postures (Figs. 30-31, Cat. Nos. 38, 25). However, we know of a total of six preparatory studies for Montparnasse Nude, which is now shown to the public for the first time

37 (Figs. 23-26, Cat. Nos. 32, 31, 30, Fig. 27, Fig. 28, Cat. No. 33). 29. Paul Cézanne: Nude (Nude Standing), 1898 Private collection 30. Robert Berény: Female Nude Pulling Her Hair (Female Nude Tieing Her Scarf) cca. 1907. Cat. No. 38. 31. Robert Berény: Nude Standing, 1907 Cat. No. 25.