Magic circle – Béla Czóbel’s connections, the Eight and patronage

The parallel careers pointed to by the exhibition, Magic Circle, outline Czóbel’s social and intellectual milieu, and his role as a catalyst in early 20th-century Hungarian modernism. They indicate the enduring timeliness of a painting that was bold and provocative, and whose point of departure was the foundations of reality, while it never headed for what was fashionable: abstraction. The artistic context of Czóbel’s varied career can be followed through different sets of paintings by artists like Jenő Maticska of Nagybánya, who died prematurely, the great predecessor who had visited Paris, József Rippl-Rónai, and the young ones: Ervin Körmendi Frim, Margit Gráber, Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba, Tibor Boromisza, Sándor Ziffer and Géza Vörös; as well as Róbert Berény, Dezső Czigány, Károly Kernstok, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, who were all members of The Eight. In the person of his second wife, Mária Modok, who also worked in Nagybánya, Szentendre and Paris, a Szentendre artist is added to complement this overview of the phases of Czóbel’s career. The couple share a section, with all the works coming from our collection.
His patrons, who remained his friends throughout his life, contributed greatly to the painter’s success, which continues to this day. We collaborated with several museums and private collectors as we prepared for this exhibition. Works have been lent by the National Museum Szczecin, the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, the Deák Collection of the King Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár, the Rippl-Rónai Museum in Kaposvár, Virág Judit Gallery, Kieselbach Gallery, László Csire, János Egri, László Erdész, András Feuer, Kinga Germán, János Haas, András Nagy, Gabriella Nagy (from the estate of Mimi Kratochwill), Balázs Srankó, Zsófia Nikoletti and Viktor Menschikof. The both of Hungarian collectors with the most works by Czóbel, Péter Antal és Gábor Klein helped to realize this exhibition through continuous collection work and search for sources. This extensive volume also contains studies that apply new perspectives and research findings to the lessons of the two Czóbel exhibitions we presented over the past four years (Two Palettes; Palettes), revealing depths in the work of Béla Czóbel, and his relationship to his wife, Mária Modok, Károly Kernstok and Ferenc Hatvany. The printed catalogue, wich made with financial contribution of Klein Gábor, includes Mimi Kratochwill’s last study on Czóbel, honours not only the distinguished art historian, but the 50th anniversary as well of the opening of the Czóbel Museum in 1975, which she was instrumental in creating.

Czóbel Béla: Lehel Ferenc in Baia Mare, Romania, 1904
oil on canvas, 95×93 cm
signed lower right: Czóbel B 1904 Nbánya
Courtesy of Nemes Gallery