Szinyei Merse Anna: Szinyei Merse Pál (1845-1920) (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai)

PAL SZINYEI MERSE (1845-1920) The process of liberating the artists' individuality began during the period of Romanticism in those Western countries where there was a highly developed culture in painting and where the processes of society had been accelerating rapidly. The new endeavours, loosening the limitations of the old traditions, gradually declared war on all artistic and social conventions that hindered the unbiassed, free interpretation of nature. This progression coincided with the quick development of the natural sciences, espesially that of optics. The most spectacular results emanated from France. In general, these reached the artists living in the more easterly parts of Europe through indirect channels and only after some delay. However, the role of intermediary was taken over by Munich with the organization of the great international exhibition in 1869. The examples of the Barbizon School and of Courbet were revelations to the more open-eyed painters of Middle Europe. Impressionism was not yet mentioned at that time, as only a few early Manet pictures, dealing with Spanish themes, were present. Most of the Hungarians who visited the great exhibition were highly impressed. However, Pál Szinyei Merse was the only one to perceive the full importance of the event - it was here that he could see the confirmation of his hitherto solitary endeavours. No one else in the Munich circle undertook the consequent elaboration of the problems raised in connection with the painting of landscapes and of colouring. Thus it is to his merit that he, at the same time as his French colleagues but independently from them, discovered and used the plein-air which was searching for the shape- and colour-forming effect of sunshine. Pál Szinyei Merse was born on the 4th of July 1845, the child of an old Hungarian noble-family in Szinyeujfalu, Upper Northern Hungary. This is now a part of Slovakia. In April 1864, he went to the Munich Academy and there he studied under the instruction of A. Strähuber and H. Anschütz, then from 1866 under A. Wagner, and finally from October 1867 to October 1869 under K.Piloty. As a young man he at first found it difficult to accept the obligatory stages of the dry academic method of teaching. From his early still-life work (plate I) it is evident, that, at the studio of Lajos Mezey, his teacher of painting in Nagyvárad, he had already learned to handle oil paints. This is evident in the natural, although somewhat naive way he used realistic colours in his very early work. In Szinyei's formative years as an artist it is conspicuous that the academic drawing of the plastercasts of antique statues was painful and frustrating for him. The romantic designs he prepared for his admission into Piloty's class also demonstrate that he was working against his inclination. Nevertheless, the dramatic force of his Suicidal Faust on the Coast (1866), or the intimate, lyrical beauty of Nun and Knight (1867) show the early appearance of his original ideas. His sketches are as far from the rigidity of the Nazarenes, or from the exaggerated emotionalism of romanticism, as from the deliberate theatricality of academism. Generally, there are not many figures in his pictures. Also, in spite of their different historical clothing, they tend to be of a commonplace appearance and they are inactive. Even so, such figures are presented more poetically than in the work of his contemporaries. He painted his early realistic Portrait of His Brother Zsigmond (plate III), in summer 1866. The warm, simple perception, achieved almost without media, and the deep psychography are the striking elements in this picture. The latter feature was to become the chief characteristic of Szinyei Merse's less-known portrait painting art. His sketches, filled with the tender poesy of nature, in wich he finally found real pleasure, were made in Piloty's class, in autumn 1867. The subject of Ofelia is a literary one, while that of the Faun (plate V) is mythical. At the time, when representative historical compositions were at their height, the mythological topic was about to vanish so in Munich. However, owing to the works of Böcklin, which could be seen in public collections, it still had a certain effect on several painters. It is probable that Szinyei Merse started out by following in Böcklin's footsteps, for it goes without saying that this theme led to his chief aim - to the depiction of nature. His first great composition was developed from