Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2008)

ANNUAL REPORT • A 2008. ÉV - PÉTER ÚJVÁRI: Ferdinand Hodler—A Symbolist Vision

FERDINAND HODLER—A SYMBOLIST VISION 9 September 2008 - 24 December 2008 Curator: Katharina Schmidt KATHARINA SCHMIDT, FERDINAND HODLER, MUSEUM OF EINE ARTS, BUDAPEST, BUDAPEST 2008. HUNGARIAN TEXT, 413 PP.. 298 COL. ILLS.. ISBN 978 963 7063 55 8 KATHARINA SCHMIDT, FERDINAND HODLER. HATJE CANTZ, BERN 2008. ENGLISH TEXT. 413 PP.. 298 COL. ILLS.. ISBN 978 3 7757 2063 2 Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was born to a modest family, and after being orphaned at a very early age he started his career as a talented, but poverty-stricken, landscapist. He earned his living by selling his canvases depicting popular landscape motifs and by participating at local competitions for painters. This meant that the livelihood of the young artist depended quite heavily on his adhering to the taste of the Swiss public and on the judgement of the local jurors who awarded him several prizes. However, he still followed his own artistic principles that he had formulated at the age of twenty-one in his "Ten Commandments of the Painter Ferdinand Hodler", and did so more and more consistently as he slowly gained independence. Nevertheless, this twin determination of his art explains why his work seems both innovative and traditional, and why it demonstrates an inner coherence and unity despite the very different formats, genres and styles Hodler worked in

—from lifelike naturalism to near-abstract expressionism. The main objective of and reason for the exhibition was to manifest this principal unity of Hodler's multi-faceted work and to provide a detailed and balanced overview of his career, which, in some respects, was typical of a Central European artist of his time. This approach was also prompted by the many stereotyped interpretations from the past that still affect

—in Hungarian art criticism seemingly even more so than in Switzerland or elsewhere

—our understanding of Hodler's artistic qualities. One set of these stereotyped opinions applies, in a rather unfavourable way, to all those artists who shaped their art and careers independently from the avantgárdé movements canonised since then. Another set of stereotypes is connected to Hodler's success which eventually turned out to be his misfortune: after his success in Paris (1891) and Vienna (1904), Hodler also became increasingly recognised in his native country. His pictures were selling well, their prices increased, and Hodler himself acquired wealth and