Veszprémi Nóra - Szücs György szerk.: Vaszary János (1867–1939) gyűjteményes kiállítása (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2007/3)

Tanulmányok: - RÉVÉSZ EMESE: „Modern művészetet - az ifjúságért!" Vaszary János művészetpedagógiája

EMESE RÉVÉSZ Modern Art - For the Youth!" JÁNOS VASZARY'S ART PEDAGOGY János Vaszary consciously made the most of his pedagogical talent, having recognised that there was no more efficient way of "preaching" new art than teaching. Having drawn the lessons from academic art training, he developed his own reform pedagogical principles to counter that. All in all, he was the master of a whole generation of late modernist Hungarian artists. The first actual station of his career as a teacher was the free school of the Művészház (Artists' House) in 1913. There is little information available about the nature of studies at this short-lived institution. In all probability, it followed the principles of the Julian Academy in Paris (the dominance of drawing nudes, free choice of tutors, the possibility of free correction). Almost unable to function by the end of the war, the Academy of Fine Arts was to be revived by Károly Lyka, the temporarily appointed principal. He maintained that only a staff committed to new, modern art could guarantee reform. From the outset, he insisted on the appointment of Vaszary as a tutor, who would ensure the presence of a Western European modernist orientation. One of the pillars of the reform was to provide more extensive studies in figure drawing from nature than ever before, and it was fundamentally important to involve Vaszary, an artist both experienced and virtuosic in the area. Another achievement of the reform was the free choice of tutors for students. In the name of artistic freedom and diversity, Lyka consciously invited members of different artistic schools to teach figure drawing; István Csók and Vaszary were to represent the modern tendencies of the beginning of the century. The influence of the fresh attitudes of newly employed tutors was soon visible in the work of students. In the beginning, the official cultural policies of Kuno Klebelsberg supported moderately modem aspirations; however, conservative forces gained the upper hand by the end of the twenties, and loathed the advance of the moderns and youths in particular. Following the 1928 exhibition of the Academy at the Műcsarnok (Palace of Arts), the ministry set up a panel to review the reforms, which then issued its findings stating: "that influence of the latest artistic attitudes in the educational programme of the academy is not desirable." The new minister of culture, Jenó' Karafiáth, assuming his post in 1931, decreed that, in order to mitigate parental concerns, male models were to wear loin guards at admission exams. István Csók dubbed the order a "superb joke" in the evening paper, Az Est. Karafiáth immediately demanded the academy leadership to investigate the case of the statement mocking both his decree and person, but, even before the proceedings could start, he suspended Csók from his job with immediate effect, and sent Vaszary on a two-month leave, only to suspend him as of November. After he had been sacked, as one of his students, Margit Anna, recollected later, he immediately founded his own academy called New Art School. This studio in the heart of Budapest (Rákóczi Street) was probably identical with the one directed nominally by Klára Rázsó. Teaching followed the freeschool tradition: students made their studies of living models, and Vaszary appearing irregularly would correct them. Starting out from concrete, practical problems, the master would share his experiences with his students. The fundamental principle of his teaching was his conviction that a picture is no mere representation of reality but an independent phenomenon with rules of its own. After his dismissal, he summarized the aims of his art pedagogical programme in an article entitled Modern Art - For the Youth! in the following way: "I believe that the analysis and synthesis of natural forms and structures are desirable, that the development of forms should start from within the organ and go outward, not the other way round. I also deem the study of the conditions of a picture advisable, in particular: the conscious definition of representation in plane or space, in other words, pictorial construction, as well as the utilization of the artistic power of decorative, dynamic, rhythmic and monumental effects. Naturally, the solution of the problems of motion also belongs here. These would be some of the fundamentals of viewing nature and of pictorialness." In teaching figure drawing, Vaszary stimulated his students to grasp the essence of what they saw. Instead of customary several-week poses, he had them work on few-minute ones. By making them draw such croquis, they could learn to observe the fundamental structural characteristics of a sight. Apart from his innovations in teaching figure drawing, Vaszary had a new approach to exercises in composition, too. Breaking with academic traditions, he would assign his students no thematic (Biblical or mythological) subjects, but exercises that would foster the application and understanding of abstract pictorial components. This meant producing compositions built on a dominant colour or pair of colours (blue, red), or, otherwise, performing spatial, formal, rhythmic, dynamic tasks, or ones expressly related to movement. He particularly emphasised developing the skills of expression in colour. Noticed even by contemporary critics, the works of his students were characterized by a vivid, expressive colouring. His pedagogical approach was thus related to the methods the most modern schools of the twenties applied, and its primary source and parallel was the Bauhaus mode of teaching art, while, at home in Hungary, Sándor Bortnyik's Műhely (Workshop) was closest to him. According to the recollections of his students, the most valuable element of his teaching activity was that, during correction, he would dwell on current tendencies in Western art, and orientate his students by giving them books and magazines. At the same time, he advised against "adopted formalism" and "petty ingenuities." The influence of several trends of the period - from post-expressionism through cubism and surrealism to neo-objectivism - can be observed in the work of his students, several of whom made even non-figurative experiments. After 1945, Vaszary's students had a prominent role in the European School and the renewal of Hungarian progressivism.