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 - SOPHIE BARTHÉLÉMY: Pan! Dans l'oeil...The Paris Salons' Reception of the Hungarian Fauves in the Mirror of Contemporary French Critiques, 1904-1914

Dezső Czigány: Self-portrait, 1911. Cat. No. 101. Illustrations by Kees Van Dongen. L'Assiette au Beurre, 26 October 1901 Cocotte; 1199; Cocotte; 1200; Cocotte; 1201; Cocotte; 1202; Cocotte, 1203; il les différencie sur ses toiles, je vous assure. Mais, par exemple, il ne les voit pas en beau, vous pouvez m'en croire."

51 The critics were just as harsh on his compatriot, Róbert Berény. He arrived in Paris in 1905 and studied at Julian Academy, where the teachers noted his talent for drawing. He regularly attended Gertrude Stein's salon, where he met Matisse, Picasso and Braque. Berény, who cared little for Impressionism, developed an instant admiration for Cézanne and Matisse. On the influence of the Fauve artists, he painted portraits and nudes. Louis Vauxcelles described Berény as a "Apprenti Fauve" and a pale imitation of Marquet.

52 Berény managed to procure the support and patronage of Maurice Denis, who preferred him to Czóbel. Like in Braque, Derain and Van Dongen, Denis saw in Czobel "un géomètre qui triangule le corps féminin," with a tendency to overlook both the classical ideal and nature: "Il y a plus de simplicité chez Berény. Malgré d'étranges apparences, sa bizarre petite femme aux jambes boudinées est assez vivante et colorée. Le portrait est peint, et, ce qui est mieux, il est dessiné: la laideur en est expressive."

53 To Ödön Márffy, who had been strongly influenced by Rippl-Rónai's predilection for French culture, travelling to Paris seemed the natural thing to do in 1902. For two years, he studied at Julian Academy and in Cormon's workshop at the École des Beaux-Arts simultaneously. Like so many of his compatriots, he, too, fell under the sway of Matisse's colours, although Cézanne, with his firm linear composition, exerted a similarly powerful influence on him. Márffy returned to Hungary in