Nagy Ildikó szerk.: Rippl-Rónai József gyűjteményes kiállítása (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 1998/1)

TANULMÁNYOK / ESSAYS - BERNÁTH Mária: Egy közép-európai modell. Hatás és asszimiláció Rippl-Rónai József festői munkásságában

(Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Art History Institut) MKCS-C-l-36/264. 5 Rippl did not want to transfer from the drawing class to Löfftz's painting course, not being inspired by what he could learn there. See in more detail: Csók, István: Rippl-Rónai és én [Rippl-Rónai and me.] Nyugat, 1935. 360. 6 József Rippl-Rónai's letter to his parents. "Monachium" June 1886. MTA MKCSC-I-36/378. 7 Fiola-Sipos (eds.) 1978. 289. 8 Op.cit. in note 5. q In a letter to the National Hungarian Art Society (Kaposvár, Oct. 1886) he says that the picture meant for the autumn show portrays countess Eszter Somssich. Documents of the Nat. Hung. Art Society. MTA MKCS-A-I. 1. Hung. National Archives, 01641. 10 József Rippl-Rónai's letter to Elek Petrovics. Kaposvár, 15 September 1905. In: Rippl-Rónai 1957. 142. " See note 6. 12 He exhibited his copperplate engraving made of Munkácsy's portrait of Ferenc Liszt in Vienna, Munich and Budapest. Documents of the Hung.Nat. Art Society. MTA MKCS-A-I. 1. Hung. Nat. Archives 02154, 02193, 02225. 13 "My salon picture with the title Bezigue was sold for 3000 francs by Munkácsy himself." Rippl-Rónai 1957. 27. 14 Letter to Béla Lázár. August 1907, Kaposvár. In: Rippl-Rónai 1957. 147. 15 "...I only met with his works later, in Paris, in a restaurant." Ibid. In the Rippl literature it has become a truism that Rippl went to Pont-Aven to get acquainted with Gauguin, and his art became fertilized there. Yet, there is no proof to this effect, rather to the contrary; the fact is that he painted there his genre picture, Inn at Pontauen. Naturally foreign literature also reiterates this erroneous data, most recently Eckert Boyer 1988. 3, and in the Frèches-Thory-PerucchiPetri (eds.) 1993 catalogue Beil, Ralph: József Rippl-Rónai (207) and with reference to two Hungarian studies (Balogh 1963, Cifka 1983), Cahn, Isabelle: Chronologie der Nabis (note 20, 492). The latter also states mistakenly that Rippl-Rónai got to know Pitcairn Knowles in Pont-Aven. In his Memoirs, Rippl-Rónai says: "back in 1888 I had been to Britanny." (39) Since the Inn at Pontauen carries the date 1889, the latter is more probable. 16 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 55 and 44. 17 "university town for artists." "The only spot in Europe where Americans are content to live all the year round." Quoting Earl Shinn and Henry Blackburn, and addressing the topic in more detail: Jacobs, Michael: The Good and Simple Life. Artist Colonies in Europe and America. Oxford 1985. 42-64. 18 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 41. 19 A symbolic decision with the purpose of all-round revival was changing his name to Rónai, but Rippl also remained stuck, although he only signed his pictures from then on as Rónai. The first announcement of his wish to change his name is in a letter written to the Hungarian Art Society dated 26 September 1888. MTA MKCS A-l. 1. Hung. Nat. Archives 02297. The name change was entered into the register of Kaposvár in 1889. Horváth 1995. 11. 20 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 44. 21 Cited by Chassé. Charles: Paul Gauguin et le groupe de Pont Auen. Paris, 1921. 82. 22 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 50, 82. 23 See note 1, on p. cat. no. 19. 24 Quite obviously, he could travel to London and Scotland in 1893 thanks to Knowles' connections. This trip also proves that Knowles thought it important for Rippl to get acquainted with English painting. "I came across very fine and artistically exquisite pictures in the national [!] gallery. That's what 1 am the happiest about, because 1 found there some I had no idea about," he reported about his trip to a Kaposvár paper (Somogyi Ellenőr, 9 August 1893. 3.). 25 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 44, 68. 26 Denis, Maurice: A szimbolizmustól a klasszicizmusig [From symbolism to classicism]. Budapest, 1983. 51. 2

' The discontented artists, headed by Puvis de Chavannes, broke with the Salon and set up the group of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts with an exhibiting facility in the Champ de Mars. 28 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 104-105. 29 F. Macdonald, Margaret: James McNeill Whistler Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonne. New Haven and London, 1995. 30 It is worth mentioning that among the Nabis, Odilon Redon's period of the blackand-white colour reduction and dream atmosphere was held in high esteem. Frèches-Thory, Claire: Quellen und Vorbilder. In: Frèches-Thory-Perucchi-Petri (eds.) 1993. 25. 31 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 42. 32 Rippl-Rónai's letter to Béla Lázár. Kaposvár, August 1907. In: Rippl-Rónai 1957. 148. 33 Gil Blas, 20 May 1897. 34 The large oil version of the picture (Edward Burne-Jones: Green Summer, 1868, oil on canvas, 73.6 x 122.6 cm) was auctioned off by Christie's in 1979 to an American private collector. 35 Letter to Elek Petrovics June 1905 and 15 September 1905; to Béla Lázár August 1907. In: Rippl-Rónai 1957. 140-144, 147-148, and to Dezső Malonyay Kaposvár, 1905, in: Malonyay 1906. 184 (facsimile). 36 In a letter to Elek Petrovics dated July 1905, see note 35. 37 In more detail: Hermann, Fritz: Die Nabis und die "Revue blanche". In: FrèchesThory-Perucchi-Petri (eds.) 1993. 68. 38 The shows at Siegfried Bing's Salon referred to here presented not only the Nabis but also "art nouveau", since Bing liked it. In addition to the Nabis, Lalique, Gallé, Tiffany, Köpping, etc. exhibited here. R Weisberg, Gabriel: Art Nouveau Bing. Paris. Style 1900. Washington, New York, 1986. 39 Interestingly enough, Gauguin first had a revelatory impact upon Rippl-Rónai in Budapest, in 1907. "The Gauguin, Cezanne exhibition is to open today here. I saw it yesterday. It's magnificent, divine!... I think if Gauguin had lived in that age, he would be listed next to Fra Angelico today." Letter of Rippl-Rónai to Lajos Kunffy. Budapest, 10 May 1907. In: Rippl-Rónai 1957. 146. 40 Verbal communication by Maurice Denis to Pewny Denise. Pewny 1940. 20. 41 According to Weisberg op.cit. (notes 14 and 19), Bing started dealing in Japanese objects before the 1870s. For the Japanese exhibitions in Paris and their effect, see Perucchi-Petri, Ursula: Die Nabis und der Japonismus. In: Frèches-Thory-PerucchiPetri (eds.) 1993. 33-59. 12 In his letters and Recollections, RipplRónai enthuses about Japanese art, but there is no indication in his early years that he adapted the waves of this fashion as they swept over Paris, into his pictures. Probably only after 1895, when he got into contact with Siegfried Bing, did the decorative possibilities raised by Japanese art become an inspirational force for him - and mainly in his drawings and applied arts activities. For the connection between Rippl-Rónai and the art of the Far East: Geller 87. 43 "The picture of my grandmother... acquainted me with Gauguin. He, like all others, liked this of my pictures on display at the Salon in Champ de Mars the best." Rippl-Rónai 1957. 55 as well as Natanson, Thadee: Peints a leur tour. Paris, 1948. The part on Rippl-Rónai translated and published by Cs. Szabó 1949. 32. 44 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 24. 45 Rippl-Rónai 1957. 105. 46 According to Katalin Sinkó, the highneck dress and the shyness of the Woman with a cage, and the intact vase of a Slender woman with a vase suggest a living relationship between Symbolism and the iconographie tradition of the 19th century. Sinkó endows these pictures with the allegorical meaning of "Integritás". (Sinkó Katalin: Ideálkép, portré, életkép. Műfaji összefüggések a romantikus képzőművészetben. [Ideal, portrait and conversation piece. Connections between genres in romantic art] Ars Hungarica 1987/1/ 52 and 56, note 49.) In my view, Rippl-Rónai did not intend to "allude" to anything when painting these pictures, either. Even the intellectual content of his tapestry entitled Idealism and Realism which cannot be discussed here - remains at the level of the allegory. 47 The Denis cartoon made also for Bing in 1894 was shown in the exhibition of the Salon des Beaux Arts in April 1895 (no.

394) where Rippl-Rónai could also see it. He first mentioned on 22 May 1895 in a letter to his brother Ödön that he was toying with the idea of a "little book". Les Vierges appeared for Christmas 1895. 48 "... it is precisely Rippl-Rónai who ... realized most completely, consistently and with as much concentration as his creative constitution allowed, what is usually understood by secessionist style." Szabadi 1979. 43. 49 Fóthy János: Rippl-Rónai visszaemlékezései Puvis de Chavannesra [The recollections of Rippl-Rónai of Puvis de Chavannes]. Pesti Hírlap, 4 Jan. 1925. 35. 50 Letter of József Rippl-Rónai to Béla Lázár. Kaposvár, 15 Dec. 1910. HNG Data Collection, inv.no. 3651/1939/23. 31 For the endeavours of József RipplRónai in applied arts, see: Ágnes Prékopa's study in this catalogue. 52 Mercure de France, 1899. Avril 248; une date de l'histoire de la peinture