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 - GYÖRGY SZÜCS:Dissonance or New Harmony? The Art of the Nagybánya "Neos"

erly, to contemporary Hungarian developments in art history: it referred to those Nagybánya artists who rejected the Naturalist concept adopted at the artists colony and primarily wanted to assimilate the latest French inventions developed around 1906-1908, most notably the colourful, poster-like and raw style of Fauvism (Czóbel, Ziffer, Perlrott, Tihanyi). We should haste to add that it was not the purest form of Fauvism, i.e. the liberated and almost aggressive painting of Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck from around 1906, that made a direct impact on the Nagybánya painters; rather, it was the various indirect and tamed interpretations of the young Hungarians visiting Paris that exerted an influence. This explains the simultaneous existence of still-lifes reminiscent of Matisse's palette (Géza Bornemisza, Cat. No. 69), an interior similar to Van Gogh's famous room (Lajos Tihanyi, Cat. No. 235), a self-portrait using Gauguin's decorative effects (Sándor Ziffer) and landscapes applying the achievements of the Cubists (Perlrott, Galimberti) among the concrete compositions from the period ending with the outbreak of the First World War. It would be extremely difficult to cram all these into a single tendency or concept. Because of the parallel emergence of different movements, the artists found it very difficult to orientate themselves in the maze of terminology. On 25 May, 1910, following a correction class with Réti, who was "a fully committed follower of Impressionism" himself, Mihály Kuczka recorded in his diary the occasion, when he inquired from his colleague, Zoltán Jakab, about the difference between two movements: Géza Bornemisza: Still-life with Flowers, cca. 7970. Ca f. No. 69.