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 - JUDIT BOROS: The Synthesizer. Vilmos Perlrott Csaba's Painting
thoughts in Notes d'un peintre. 35 The French master respected his students' individual ideas: he never painted over their works and did not expect them to imitate him. However, he could do nothing to prevent that his influence become manifested in the works of the painters who visited his school. It is rather difficult to put an accurate date on the works Perlrott painted in 1908 and 1909. When provisionally dating the works, one must take into account the fact that, in addition to Matisse's artistic output, he was also acquainted with the latest compositions of Derain, Picasso, and Braque. An accurate date (1909) is written explicitly only on Street in Nagybánya. (Cat. No. 211) The assumption that Perlrott completed one of his most characteristic early compositions, Nudes Outdoors {Eden, Cat. No. 201), in the summer of 1908 is further supported by stylistic marks, catalogue information and journalistic reports. In the composition associated with the Arcadia theme, Perlrott placed the nude studies, which he had executed in his studio, in an idyllic landscape background. The monumental female figure in the foreground of the picture is a rendition of Matisse's Nu bleu: Souvenir de Biskra (cca. 1907), while the middle figure with its abdomen broken up into Cubist planes is reminiscent of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Derain's Golden Age. The detail cut off from Eden received the title Backview of Nude Boy (Cat. No. 202), which (with its mythological overtone: the boy is shown holding an apple) reminds the viewers of Matisse's sculpture, Nu de dos. Eden constitutes one of the most important pieces in Perlrott's Neo-period. It is more than probable that it was shown at the Salon d'Automne in 1908 (Étude, 1641 ), 36 as well as at the second exhibition of MIÉNK in 1909 (Study, 172) and the show that György Bölöni organized at Arad in 1909. 37 In part, we can infer all these from contemporary journalistic reactions to the painting. Except for György Bölöni's views, which still hold true, the reactions were mostly negative. 38 By contrast, Bölöni's lines reveal his thorough familiarity with the creative processes that took place at Matisse's academy: "The team of new Hungarian painters has a member (Vilmos Csaba Perlrott), who engenders mortal enmity in some people through both his composition —his Elysian fields —and his person. Viewers tend to find his provocative reds, tense greens and explosive yellows irritating, even though the freedom of art —to speak rather prosaically — would not permit such reactions. His picture evokes a pagan and healthy chapter from human life, both fresh and vibrant, stirring Vilmos Perlrott Csaba: Boys Bathing, cca. 1911. Cat. No. 209.
