Szabolcs-Szatmár-Beregi levéltári évkönyv 13. (Nyíregyháza, 1999)

Helytörténeti tanulmányok - Irodalomtörténeti tanulmányok - Tálas Anikó: Czóbel Minka és Büttner Helén barátsága

Bessenyei, the writer-bodyguard returned from Vienna to his native house at Bercel in 1782. He obtained a loan of Ft 6,000 in order to settle the debts, interests and mortgages owed by the family to others. As a result of his efficient and lawful actions he was able to stop the family's loss of property, but not even he was able to improve the family's generally negative reputation. A prodigal way of life and unlawful efforts to obtain more land remained characteristic of the family. Aniko Talas THE FRIENDSHIP OF MINKA CZ6BEL AND HELEN BUTTNER Minka Czobel was a writer and poetess of the turn of the century. She was one of the outstanding personalities of the Hungarian Art Nouveau. Her poetry started from a traditional folk and national style and gradually reached symbolism and secession. Her position in the history of literature is still often disputed. Helen Buttner was a fashionable narrative painter of the end of the last century. She primarily painted genre paintings for the aristocracy, producing portraits and pictures of animals. While Minka Czdbel's poetry was a forerunner of the generation of the famous periodical Nyugat, Helen Buttner always remained largely conservative. Perhaps this explained why literary scholarship re-discovered the poetess, but Hele"n Buttner remains forgotten. I used their correspondence in German as a source for revealing their connection. I examined their correspondence from the period 1890-1896. The letters they exchanged were highly intellectual. They often talk about poetry, arts and paintings. The most important value they share is love of nature. They mutually supported each other in improving their arts. The two women regarded each other as artists of equal rank, and they mutually expressed their appreciation to the work of the other. The letters show how important a role Helen Buttner played in shaping the visual sensitivity and the whole attitude to life and arts of Minka Cz6bel. Minka Czobel, on the other hand, largely contributed to providing the spiritual and professional safety necessary for Helen Buttner to work as a successful painter. As a result they came closer and closer to each other not only as artists but as individual human beings as well. Their correspondence reveals a number of parallelisms in the works of the two artists — the parallelisms are by no means confined to the period in which the works were produced. Minka Czobel wrote her narrative titled Hafia in 1890-91. The story takes place in the domain of Count Forgach. This is where she first met Helen Buttner, who painted the portraits of Count Forg&ch's hunting party. The works were produced in the same environment and depicted the same people. The volume of poems titled Maya was written between 1891 and 1893. In this period Helen Buttner painted her picture mentioned as Ochsenbild in their letters, showing two oxen pulling a plough. The two works are connected by a love of pure whiteness.