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

up general human feelings in such a way, and mobilizing these feelings on such a massive scale, which is usually associated only with antique sculptures of marble."

39 It appears that Perlrott was a great deal more interested in the spirituality of Fauvism, in its powerful expressivity, than in the actual application of the stylistic marks of Fauvism. His painting was rooted in a fertile concept that did not attempt to rigorously separate the elements of Fauvism and Cubism (the latter being patterned mostly on Cezanne's use of space). On the contrary; he regarded the synthesis of these elements decidedly constructive. We can find Fauvist palette and brushwork in the cases of Woman with Black Hair or Sunlit Yard in Nagybánya (Cat. No. 199) painted around 1907-1908; of two nude compositions executed in Matisse's school (Nude Standing, Cat. No. 205, Female Nude, Cat. No. 204);"° of Nagybánya Street dated to 1909 (Cat. No. 211); and the still-lifes with clock he made around 1910 (Cat. Nos. 207 and 208). Perlrott's anti-naturalistic tendency to apply organic forms and colours in his compositions characterizes most of the works he painted before 1920. The stylistic marks, which hold together the composition to form a unified metaphor

—such as the use of textiles with floral motifs in the background; the incorporation of other paintings; the frequent appearance of statues in his still-lifes and portraits; and the arrangement in landscape surroundings of nudes painted after sculptures

—constitute Perlrott's vocabulary of artistic expression that he had mastered at Matisse's school. To give an example, we would like to mention a selfportrait he painted in 1910 (Self-portrait with Statue, Cat. No. 206); this was the first time that the artist depicted the statue (perhaps the representation of a dummy to be used in drawing classes), which later kept showing up in his still-lifes. The peculiar liveliness of the statue that symbolized artworks in general marked the beginning of a longer series, in which the discomfiting similarity of sculptures and live human models lent a curious tension to the compositions. Among the compositions in this category we find a work painted around 1910, Harlequin and Models,"along with the studio interiors and other interiors executed during the years he spent at Kecskemét, for example the numerous versions of Models.

42 Besides the earlier mentioned invitation to exhibit in Brussels, which Perlrott seems to have accepted, the artist had numerous opportunities to show his works in various galleries in Paris. Since in most of the cases we have to rely on Perlrott's memory in the matter of the exhibitions, we can give neither the dates of the events, nor in fact the names of the small galleries, which have largely been relegated to oblivion by now.

43 He might have exhibited in the well-known Weill Gallery in 1909, and again at the turn of 1911-1912, but it is well within the realm of possibilities that he had several more opportunities to exhibit his works there. His compositions were also shown at both the first (1908) and the second exhibition (1909) of MIÉNK,

44 as well as at the earlier mentioned show at Arad, organized by György Bölöni in 1909. In the summer of 1909 Perlrott was still working at the Nagybánya artists' colony. It was probably during that period that he painted the first piece of the series that featured boys bathing; entitled Soldiers Bathing, the work showed nude figures set in the natural surroundings of Nagybánya. It is not clear, however, where he executed the two known variants of the composition, Boys Bathing (Cat. No. 209) and Nudes Outdoors

45 The nudes, whose movements cannot be identified with any real activity (dancing or gymnastic exercise seem to be the best guesses), are reduced to representations of rhythmical formulas and harmonies of lines and colours. Perhaps the last version was made as late as 1911 or 1912, either in Kecskemét or in Paris, and very probably following his first sojourn in Spain. 1911-1916: Spain - Kecskemét In 1909, the municipal leaders of Kecskemét invited Béla Iványi Grünwald to set up an artists' colony there.

46 Iványi accepted the invitation and in the summer of 1909, joined by the young Neos closest to him, visited the Alföld town to survey the conditions. Although there was no shortage of ambitious plans, many of them were taken aback by the arid landscape. Once the drawn-out yet highly successful construction work had been completed, the artists could start regular work at the colony in 1912. Besides Béla Iványi Grünwald, Vilmos Perlrott Csaba was the other pivotal figure of the new artists' colony. Perlrott made two sojourns in Spain during the preparations for Kecskemét. Representatives of modern art had been showing a marked interest in Spanish art already as early as the middle of the 19

th century. The focus of attention was sometimes on Goya, sometimes on Velasquez and sometimes, such as in the early 20

tn century, on El Greco. In search of the great old masters, and accompanied by two great contemporary ones, Perlrott first traveled to Spain at the end of 1910. "On the initiative of the gentlemen mentioned earlier [i.e. Matisse and Picasso, explicitly mentioned at the beginning of the letter - JB], who spotted my Gothic inclinations, I was traveling in Spain on two occasions with both of them," he wrote in 1914.

47 Matisse left for Madrid on 16 November, 1910; Perlrott followed him perhaps two weeks later.

48 Matisse returned to Paris at the end of January, 1911, but Perlrott set himself up in Madrid for a longer stay. Initially he worked in Madrid, before moving to Toledo and Seville. He described his experiences to Béla Lázár in several consecutive letters.

49 He made numerous interesting comments about the things he had seen there. ("I expected more from both Goya and Greco"; "Professor, you were right in excluding the possibility that Cézanne had been unaware of Greco's works," etc.) He even gave, at Lázár's request, a detailed account of his own views on art. In one of the somewhat obscure sentences, which are full of phraseology characteristic of Post-Impressionistic rhetoric, he wrote a few rather surprising words about the artistic goals of the "seekers", into whose ranks he cast himself, too: "some of the 'seekers' turn their backs on Japanese Impressionism, which never gave more than a single impression, anyway; they turned to the ancient art of India and the Hindus, through which they sought to discover an art that is stable and perennial, thus [wishing] to create an entirely new style."

50 After his return from Spain, Perlrott spent the following summer already in Kecskemét. He decorated the wall of the recently completed shared studio with three allegorical frescoes (the allegories of painting, sculpture and architecture). He was still working on the frescoes, when a powerful earthquake on July 7 caused damages in them, so that he needed "to downscale the program during the repairs and the completion."

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