Nagy Ildikó szerk.: Nagybánya művészete, Kiállítás a nagybányai művésztelep alapításának 100. évfordulója alkalmából (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 1996/1)

Szinyei Merse Anna: A nagybányai festészet plein air előzményei

Although it was officially founded after Nagybánya, in reality the artists' colony at Szolnok, one of the most important of its antecedents, existed much earlier. Following the example of the Austrian painter Pettenkofen, many unconventional artists visited the Great Hungarian Plain and exhibited their landscapes in Budapest, Vienna, Munich and Paris during the 1870s and 1880s. These painters formed a less closely knit community than those who worked at Nagybánya. Their small, cheerful plein-air pictures and later their larger, Naturalistic compositions contributed to the modernization of Hungarian public opinion about art. The Austrian Tina Blau and Eugen Jettel, who made an excursion to The Netherlands in the company of László Paál, together with Rudolf Ribarz, introduced the so-called Stimmungsimpressionismus. However, the leading master, Theodor von Hörmann, was not as much a predecessor of the Hungarians as Olga WisingerFlorian, or to the extent of a few works, Anton Romako. In Hungary, with the exception of the Barbizon painters, the main trends of French art were virtually unknown; the works of Impressionist artists came to Budapest only at the beginning of the twentieth century, through private collectors and some exhibition curators. As we know from the memoirs of István Csók, the admiration felt for Bastien-Lepage following his exhibition in 1887 was soon outweighed by the fame of Puvis de Chavannes. Károly Ferenczy's Szentendre period is proof of this. At the World Exhibition in 1889, a small number of Impressionist paintings were finally shown; nevertheless, the daring multicolouredness of this trend remained hidden for Hungarian artists for a long time to come. These paintings were always left out of the really significant displays. A few of those lesser known artists whose oeuvres have only recently been reconstructed - such as F. Bazille, G. Caillebotte, or the more naturalistic J-Ch. Cazin and J. A. Muenier - were also among the predecessors. Artists from other countries, who took their different culture to Paris with them, also contributed to this otherwise very colourful assembly of forefathers, as seen from the variety of artworks produced by Scandinavian, Italian or East-European artists who worked in the French capital. As a matter of fact, many of these were seen at the exhibitions in Munich and Budapest. A surprisingly large number of Dutch and Belgian artworks - related to the French in many ways - were on display in Budapest at the time, and they were a great success in Munich, too. A. Mauve and W B. Tholen should be named among the predecessors. They belonged to The Hague School, which had a more intimate voice and stood the closest to Barbizon. Belgian trends branching out in several directions could have also inspired Hungarian artists. T. Verstraete, who became popular in Budapest following his show in 1881, often exhibited his Naturalistic paintings in subdued colours. One of his rare, joyous spring landscapes displayed in Műcsarnok was among the most immediate predecessors of Nagybánya. F. Courtens' painting, which had won a gold medal in Paris before it was purchased by the Szépművészeti Múzeum at the Winter Exhibition in 1891, is a virtuoso example of the Impressionistic, effortless interpretation of the French style. The outstandingly liberal attitude of the numerous Belgian artist colonies prepared the ground for the society Les Vingts (The Twenties) formed in 1884, which later became the major supporter of Belgian Luminism. Whether we look at the pictures of these twenty artists, or at the pictures of other artists working parallel with them, we notice several characteristics which created similar trends to the Nagybánya group's earlier or later activities. The figure of a girl painted by the English artist, G. Clausen is analogous to Béla Grünwald's Devotion. It reveals the artist's enthusiasm for Bastien-Lepage, which he shared with just about all English artists of the time. Many of the English painters, who have lately been named the English Impressionists, and who have so far been virtually unknown on the Continent, fit into the international trend. The Glasgow circle, whose members were most probably influenced by The Hague School, were even more directly analogous - especially if we look at the paintings of J. Guthrie, J. Lavery and their friends. Most of the Scandinavians were in favour of strong, sharp lighting and unmixed colours. This may also contribute to our understanding of the fact that only very few of them assimilated Impressionism, which they had experienced during their visits to Paris. All Northern painters returned to their homelands with the stern decision that - on the basis of their Parisian experiences - they would lay down the foundations of their national art. This thought corresponded perfectly with the ideals of the Nagybánya artists. J. J. Levitán, one of the greatest Russian artists, never visited France and only indirectly encountered plein-air painting. Nevertheless, since it was "in the air" throughout Europe, and the realistic objective of depicting the people and the homeland coincided in Russia, as well as in other countries, with the thorough reflection of colour values as they were perceived outdoors, Russian painters also came to interesting conclusions. The oeuvre of Repin represents the typical advance of an end-of-the-century painter, who started from the grim colours of Realism and, through the Naturalism of interiors basking in light, arrived at the natural reflexes and the colour patches divided by vibrating lights and shades. The art of most Slavic nations benefited from all these results. However, the Slovene Impressionists achieved the most, and this as early as 1900. In Romania, the rejuvenation of painting was indebted to the art of J. Andreescu and to N. Grigorescu, who had even more French connections. Yet, they did not inspire the artists working in Nagybánya at the beginning. If only in traces, the new trends in painting which spread throughout Italy after the 1860s appeared at the galleries of Budapest and Munich, and even at the Viennese World Exhibition in 1873. The genuine Venetian plein-air, the strong colours and chiaroscuro of Tuscanian patch-painters (Macchiaioli), NorthItalian Divisionism, and Lombardián Impressionism