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

and a mode of expression that sometimes verges on almost caricature. They question, and in some cases even ridicule, not only what they paint, but also what they are. This is how the "idyllic pastoral" imagined by the Fauves is transformed into the grotesque vision of a huge black figure in Robert Berény's Composition with Silhouette (now lost) and Self-portrait in Top Hat (Cat. No. 14). Perhaps they paint in this way, because they lack confidence, and before anyone else could have a go at them, they poke fun at their own expense and forestall the attacks. Denigrated as "Gauguinists", "Matisse epigons" or "Neos", from one day to the next they will become the group Nyolcak and

— keeping the colours, but changing the attitudes

—they will do things differently. They will start taking themselves seriously, just as they will develop a rising esteem for Budapest, the city which provides them with a way of life, one that they are free to shape as they please, and also one that they do not have to share with others. But this is already another story, and the topic of another exhibition. Notes 1 See Gergely Barki's essay about Czóbel's portraits in this volume. 2 Jack Flam, "Matisse à Collioure, Évolution du style et datation des tableaux 1905-1907", in: Matisse-Derain Collioure 1905, un été fauve, Céret, Musée départemental d'Art moderne, 2005, 30-47. 3 The sentence by Louis Vauxcelles has been quoted many times: "Au centre de la salle, un torse d'enfant et un petit buste en marbre, d'Albert Marqje, qui modèle avec une science délicate. La candeur de ces bustes surprend au milieu de l'orgie des tons purs: Donatello chez les fauves..." Louis Vauxcelles: "Le Salon d'Automne", Supplément au Gil Blas, 17 October 1905. Cited by Dagen 1994, 30. 4 They were called other names than "fauves", like following the 1905 Salon d'Automne "les incohérents", or according to the American journalist, Gelett Burgess: "The beginners had been called 'The Invertebrates'." Burgess 1910 cited in: William H. Gerdts, "The American Fauves: 1907-18", in: The Color of Modernism. The American Fauves, New York, Hollis Taggart Galleries, 1997, 5. In 1906, in his article for Le Figaro entitled "les Trois Crises de l'art actuel" Camille Mauclair talked about: "fumisterie, ignorance, mercantilisme, immoralité". Cited by Dagen 1994, 10. 5 Bardos, Artur, "Kernstok", Nyugat, 1910, No. 2. 6 Gerdts, op. cit. (Note 4), 5. 7 Paris 1999. 8 Michel Puy, "Les Fauves", La Phalange, 15 November 1907. Reprinted in: Dagen 1994, 144. 9 On Gelett Burgess see Note 4. Burgess' article was published by Edward F. Fry, in: "The Documentation of Cubism", in: "Cubism 1907-1908. An Early Eyewitness Account", Art Bulletin, Vol. XLVIII., No. 1, March, 1966, 70. Regarding Béla Czóbel it is important to mention Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann's opinion: "Des Wildesten einer war dagegen der Ungar Béla Czóbel. Er hat später zeitweise in Berlin gelebt und war mit Erich Heckel befreundet." In: Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann, Pause vor dem Dritten Akt, Verlag Gebr. Mann, Hamburg, 1949, 67. 10 Gaston Diehl, Les Fauves, Paris, Nouvelles Editions Françaises, 1971, 29, 32, 69-70. See also: Georges Duthuit, Les Fauves, Genève, Editiones des Trois Collines, 1949, 83. 11 See Passuth 1997, 47^19; Bernáth, Mária, "A szelíd 'fauve'. RipplRónai pöttyös képeinek stílusáról" [The Gentle 'Fauve'. On the Style of Rippl-Rónai's Dotted Pictures], Művészettörténeti Értesítő, 1994, No. 1-2, 165-171; Bernáth, Mária, Rippl-Rónai József, Szemimpex Kiadó, Budapest, 1998, 155-182; Passuth 2000, 377-386. 12 Bálint 1941, 25-39. 13 Robert Goldwater, Primitivism in Modern Painting, New York, London, 1938; Jean Laude, La peinture française et l'art nègre, Ml, Paris, Klinksieck, 1968; Primitivism 1984. 14 Judi Freeman, "The fauves and the Landscape", in: The Fauve Landscape, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990. 13-57. 15 Henri Matisse's phrase "lente et pénible" ("slow and tedious") is quoted by: Pierre Schneider, Matisse, Flammarion, 1992, 96. 16 Primitifs français, Pavillon de Marsan, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1904. This exhibition was analyzed one hundred years later: Primitifs français. Découvertes et redécouvertes, Pans, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Musée du Louvre, 2004. 17 Philippe Dagen, i.e peintre, le poète, le sauvage, Paris, Flammarion, 1998, 141-147. 18 Jean-Pierre Barou, Matisse ou le miracle de Collioure, Paris, Petite Bibliothèque Payot, 2005. 19 Ibid., 26. 20 Ibid., 21-34. 21 Ibid., 27. 22 Goldwater, op. cit. (Note 13), Laude, op. cit. (Note 13). 23 Barou, op. cit. (Note 18) 50-53. 24 On the exhibition see: Primitifs français, op. cit. (Note 16). 25 Barr 1951, 49; Jack D. Flam, Matisse on Art, London, Phaidon, 1973, 11. 26 Gaston Diehl, Derain, München, Südwest Verlag, n.d., 14-15. 27 According to Pierre Cabanne, Derain had permission to copy in the Louvre between 24 January and 23 April, 1901. See Pierre Cabanne, André Derain, Paris, Gallimard, Editions Somogy, 1990, 22. 28 Ibid., 39. 29 André Derain: Still-life, 1904, oil on canvas, 115 x 164 cm, signed and dated bottom right, Collection of Charles Baron, Paris 30 Presumably it is the same painting as the one in possession of Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris entitled L'Arbre mort, which was discussed by Pierre Cabanne: Cabanne, op. cit. (Note 27) 33. 31 Flam 2004. 32 Dagen, La couleur de primitifs, op. cit. (Note 17), 149-160. 33 Roger Marx is quoted by Schneider, op. cit. (Note 15) 53. 34 Ibid., 57; Copier Créer, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2003, 206, 219-221. 35 Louis Vauxcelles, Les Fauves. L'Atelier Gustave Moreau. Les Expositions de la Gazette des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1934, without page numbering. 36 Basler-Kunstler 1929, 17. 37 The Julian Academy, Paris, 1868-1939, compiled by Catherine Fehrer, New York, Shepherd Gallery, 1989, without page numbering; Peter Kroppmanns and Carina Schäfer, "Private Akademien im Paris der Jahrhundertwende", in: Die Grosse Inspiration. Deutsche Künstler in der Académie Matisse Teil m

: Kunst-Museum Ahlen, 2004 25^14. 38 Fehrer, op. cit. (Note 37), without page numbering. 39 Schneider, op. cit. (Note 15), 719. 40 Gerdts, op. cit. (Note 4), 35-37. 41 Éva Bicskei, "Nők az országos magyar királyi mintarajztanoda- és rajztanárképzésben, 1871 és 1908 között" [The female class at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts], in: A Mintarajztanodától a Képzőművészeti Főiskoláig, Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem, 2002, 223-242, 44^15. 42 Bálint 1941, 14. 43 M. A. D. [Marie-Anne Dupuy] "Gustave Moreau", in: Copier Créer, op. cit. (Note 34), 59, 206, 219-221 and M .A. D and J. P. C [Jean-Pierre Cuzin], in: Copier Créer, op. cit. (Note 34), 283-289. About Moreau's teaching and copying methods see also : Jacqueline Lafargue, "Paris et Marquet", in: Marquet vues de Paris et de Ile de France, Paris, Musée Carnevalet, 2005, 9-15. 44 M. A. D., op. cit. (Note 43), 59. 45 J. P. C, op. cit. (Note 43), 26-39. 46 Ibid., 28. 47 Ibid., 35. 48 Henri Matisse translated Jan David de Heem's still-life, La desserte to his own language. He copied several works, most of which have been lost and we know only their titles. For this reason the few that have survived are even more important, especially those which were not simply commissioned and, therefore, they shed light on the changes and progress in Matisse's style. The warm tonality of the brownish hues of La desserte (1893), his first choice, suggested to him by Moreau, anticipate the colour composition of his future paintings, like La desserte (1896-1897) and the later La desserte, Harmonie en rouge (1908). Some works explicitly fascinated him, yet he was able to conquer them only with great difficulty, like, for example, Chardin's still-life, La Raie, a painting that he worked on between 1897 and 1903, during his so-called "proto-Fauve" period. 49 J. P. C. and M. A. D. published the complete list of the missing as well as the surviving copies by Henri Matisse, in: op. cit. (Note 43), 348-349. 50 Ibid., 352. 51 Henri Matisse is quoted in: '"Matisse parle', entretien avec Ténade en 1952", in: Henri Matisse, Ecrits et propos sur l'art, ed. Dominique Fourcade, Paris, Hermann Editeurs, 1992, 114. 52 J. P. C. - M. A. D., "André Derain", op. cit. (Note 43), 145. 53 A list of his copies in: Copier Créer, op. cit. (Note 34), 145. 54 J. P. C. - M. A. D., "André Derain", op. cit. (Note 43), 346. 55 Ibid. 56 See details about Derain's album: Michael Parke-Taylor, "Les copies de l'Album Fauve", in: Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne, No 5, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1980, 363-377. 57 Lengyel, Géza, "A régi mesterek" [The Old Masters], Nyugat, 1, 1908, 22, II, 337-339. His article is quoted by Révész, Emese, "A művészi másolat helye és szerepe a századforduló magyar művészetében", in: Eredeti Másolat. Balló Ede XIX. századi magyar kortársainak művészi másolatai a reneszánsz és barokk festészet remekművei után [The Place and Role of Artistic Copying in Hungarian Art around the Turn of the Century, in: Original Copy. Artistic Copies Made after Masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque Painting by the 19th-century Hungarian Contemporaries of Ede Balló], Képzőművészeti Egyetem, Budapest, 2004, 14. 58 Ibid. 59 Béla Czóbel: Self-portrait with Palette, 1902, oil on canvas, 70 x 66 cm, signed bottom right: Czóbel 1902. Czóbel Museum, Szentendre. 60 Ödön Márffy: Copy after Titian, beginning of the 1900s. It can be seen in a photo of Ödön Márffy

's studio, in the background, on the wall. See: Zoltán Rockenbauer, Ödön Márffy. Oeuvre Catalogue. Manuscript, 2.7.4.2 61 Ödön Márffy: Copy after Franz Hals, 1905, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm, signed bottom right: Márffy Ödön. Private collection. See: Zoltán Rockenbauer, op. cit. (Note 60) 2.7.4.1. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 64 Letter of István Csók to Béla Lázár from Paris on 23 February, 1910, in: Farkas, Zoltán, Csók István, Budapest, 1957, 52. 65 Of the Hungarian Fauves even Rezső Bálint painted copies, presumably still in Paris. These were shown at the retrospective exhibition at Alkotás Művészház in 1923. The signature reveals that he painted the Tintoretto copy in the Louvre in 1909. The item number of the Tintoretto copy is 69, of Mother of the Gracchuses 75, of Walter Crane's The Five Senses 77. 66 Dunoyer de Segonzac, Isadora Duncan, Paris, 1909 67 About the nudes outdoors and nudes in the studio (mainly concerning Rippl-Rónai's group compositions depicting nudes) see more in: Berecz, Ágnes: "Égy bizarr délután / A Bizarre Afternoon", in: A modell 2004, 175-184 68 Schneider op. cit. (Note 15), 96. 69 Bicskei op. cit. (Note 41), 229. 70 Réti 1994, 151. 71 Zwickl, András, "Nagybánya és az aktfestészet" [Nagybánya and Nude Painting], in: Nagybánya 1996, 246. 72 József Brummer, Margit Pollatsek (Pogány), András Mikola, Tibor Boromisza, Vilmos Perlrott Csaba, Samu Börtsök, and Attila Sassy were on the list among others. Unpublished manuscript, owned by Tiborné Boromisza, Szentendre. 73 Flam, op. cit. (Note 25), 11. 74 Barr 1951, 49. 75 Matisse painted and sculpted at Camillo and Biette's studios and finally at his collegue's, Manguin, who later became a Fauve himself. Schneider, op. cit. (Note 15), 96. 76 "Ce qui m intéresse le plus, ce n'est ni la nature morte, ni le paysage, c'est la figure. C'est elle qui me permet le mieux d'exprimer le sentiment religieux que je possède de la vie." Henri Matisse, "Notes d'un peintre", La Grande Revue, 25 December 1908. Reprinted in: Dagen 1994, 173-181. 77 Albert Marquet: Nu fauve, 1898, oil on canvas, 73 x 50 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux. 78 Albert Marquet: Matisse peignant dans l'atelier de Manguin, 1904- 1905. (Cat. No. 294) 79 Among the paintings produced here and attributed to Henri Matisse see: Henri Matisse: Marquet peignant un nu dans l'atelier de Manguin, hiver 1904-1905, gouache and aquarelle on paper, 310 x 240 mm. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. 80 Henri Matisse: L'Atelier de Gustave Moreau (Intérieur d'atelier), ca. 1895, oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, private collection. 81 Henri Matisse: L'Atelier sous les toits, 1903, oil on canvas, 55,2 x 46 cm, signed bottom right: Henri Matisse. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. 82 Parádi, Judit: Modern művészeti kiállítások, Párizs, 1904-1914. [Exhibitions of Modern Art in Paris, 1904-1914], manuscript. 83 Henri Matisse: Luxe, calme et volupté, Autumn-Winter 1904, oil on canvas, 98,5 x 118,5 cm, signed bottom right: Henri Matisse. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. 84 Flam 2004, 6. 85 Jurecskó 1996, 46. 86 Ibid. 87 Matisse produced about forty aquarelles, a hundred drawings and fifteen oil paintings. Derain returned to Paris in the end of the Summer with about thirty paintings, twenty drawings, and fifty sketches. See Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen, "Fauve painting 1905- 1907", in: An Introduction in Fauve Painting 1905-1907. The Triumph of Pure Colour, Courtauld Institute Gallery, London, 2001, no page numbering. 88 Georges Braque: Paysage à l'Estaque, 1907, oil on canvas, 37 x 46 cm, not signed. Musée d'Art Moderne de Troyes. 89 André Derain: La Seine au Pecq, 1904, oil on canvas, 85 x 95,5 cm, signed bottom left: Derain. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. 90 About the Galimbertis see Szabó, Júlia, A magyar aktivizmus művészete, 1915-1927 [The Art of Hungarian Activism, 1915-1927], Budapest, Corvina, 1981, 32-35. 91 Burgess 1910, 402. 92 Philippe Dagen, Trois hypothèses sur la couleur, in: Paris 1999, 53. 93 55 paintings and numerous pottery, wood carvings, prints and drawings were on show at the Spring exhibition of Nemzeti Szalon in 1907. 94 Jack D. Flam, "Matisse and the Fauves", in: Primitivism 1984. Vol. 1,211. 95 Ibid., 212. 96 Matisse 1908. Reprinted: Dagen 1994, 173-181. See: Flam, op. cit. (Note 94), 212-215. 97 Henri Matisse : Nature morte avec sculpture africaine, 1906- 1907, oil on canvas, 105 x 70cm, not signed, private collection. 98 Géza Bornemisza: Still-life with Negro Sculpture, 1928, oil on canvas, 75,5 x 95 cm, signed bottom right: Bornemisza Géza, 1928. Janus Pannonius Múzeum, Pécs. 99 Dagen, op. cit. (Note 92), 52. 100 Ibid. 101 Henri Matisse: La Gitane, beginning of 1906, oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm, signed bottom left: Henri Matisse. L'Annonciade, Musée de Saint-Tropez. 102 Dagen, op. cit. (Note 92), 55. 103 Burgess 1910, cited by Gerdts, op. cit. (Note 4), 5. 104 Sarah Whitfieid, Fauvism, London, Thames and Hudson, 1996, 187. 105 According to Gelett Burgess, Derain "a co-experimenter, loses his head, moulds a neolithic man into a solid cube, creates a woman of spheres, stretches a cat into a cylinder, and paints it red and yellow," Burgess 1910, cited by Gerdts, op. cit. (Note 4), 3. 106 Flam, op. cit. (Note 94), 215. 107 Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, The Sculpture of Henri Matisse, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, thames and Hudson, 1984, 9. 108 Henri Matisse: La Vie, 1906, bronze, height: 23,2 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 109 Flam, op. cit. (Note 94), 225. 110 Henri Matisse: Nu bleu: Souvenir de Biskra, 1907, oil on canvas, 92,1 x 142,5 cm, signed bottom right: Henri Matisse. The Cone Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art. 111 Flam, op. cit. (Note 94), 225. 112 Monod-Fontaine, op. cit. (Note 107), 12. 113 Ibid., 26. See also: Pia Müller-Jamm, "Henri Matisse Figur Farbe Raum", in: Henri Matisse Figur Farbe Raum, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf 2005, 17-46. 114 Photograph entitled "Deux jeunes filles Targui", in: MonodFontaine, op. cit. (Note 107), 14. 115 Meyer Schapiro is quoted in: Monod-Fontaine, op. cit. (Note 107), 15. 116 Verbal information from Mrs Tibor Boromisza in 2005. Photos of the sculptures are in the bequest of Tibor Boromisza. See one photograph in: Jurecskó 1996, 21.