Hungarian Art on the way to world fame
Allegro Barbaro in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris
MúzeumCafé 38.
The Hungarian show in the Musée d’Orsay crowns ten years of research and cooperation relating to numerous exhibitions. We first participated in the series whose first phase included the exhibition Hungarian Fauves in the Hungarian National Gallery in 2006. The second phase involved exhibitions of The Eight in Pécs, Budapest and Vienna. However, it became clear that by appearing on the international scene and in the interest of a more significant break-through, the earlier almost entirely unknown brand of the Hungarian Fauves and The Eight had to be linked to a name that was familiar abroad. The noted Hungarian composer Béla Bartók seemed most suitable for a brand. After all, his role in the spread of Hungarian Modernism was already highlighted in relation to The Eight. Bartók was connected to the new generation of painters in many ways and maintained friendly relations with many of them. Róbert Berény painted the best of his portraits and the composer supported The Eight’s emblematic exhibition in 1911 with a concert performance. Contemporary criticism also linked them, though it was divided in its response to the endeavours in modern painting and music, as it was regarding the poetry of Endre Ady. Hence Bartók, The Eight and Ady all stood in the crossfire of enthusiastic ovation and vehement rejection. Bartók composed his well-known piano piece Allegro Barbaro in 1911. It seemed obvious to choose this title, with its rich connotations, to promote the Hungarian Fauves and early expressionist painting. Historically Hungarians always seemed somewhat “barbaric” in the eyes of the West, which was not necessarily negative, but rather involved admiration for a particularly rooted Hungarian culture. As Picasso is said to have remarked on seeing Vilmos Aba-Novák’s vast paintings: “Who is this barbaric genius?” Contemporary descriptions indicate that at their appearance in Paris the Hungarian Fauves were considered too fervent and eccentric, though they were no wilder that the French Fauves. They merely integrated into the local medium in a different way. We have not been primarily looking for direct effects or musical illustrations but connecting points, as well as parallel and innovative endeavours. We received much help from the Museum of Fine Arts for the centenary exhibition of The Eight in 2011 and afterwards, too. The invitation first to the Kunstforum, Vienna and then to this exhibition in Paris came thanks to the museum’s extensive international relations. At the same time the theme also suited the Musée d’Orsay, since in 2011 it highlighted the connections with the arts of Gustav Mahler’s and a year later Claude Debussy’s music. Its director, Guy Cogeval, who is passionately fond of music, [see the interview with him in the previous issue of MúzeumCafé – ed.] thought that an exhibition related to Bartók not only would fit in the series he initiated but could also present something new on the exhibition scene, which is often enervated by stereotypes. In view of the composer’s career, we decided to defer the time limit of our concept, which had consistently ended with the outbreak of the First World War, to as far as 1920 – partly due to the significance of his compositions for the stage and partly because not only the painters of The Eight but the Cubists and Activists regarded his music as their own. Bartók’s music was as much a part of Rippl-Rónai’s “war” exhibition in 1915 as of the cultural events of Kassák and his circle up to the spring of 1919. 1920 symbolises a double break: on the one hand, the loss of territory as a result of the Trianon Treaty and, on the other, the emigration of the Hungarian avant-garde after the failure of the Council Republic – both involved a severe loss for Hungary’s artistic life. Thus this date marks the end of the until then organic development of Hungarian Modernism. We developed the concrete plan for the exhibition together with our French co-curator, Claire Bernardi. Earlier cooperation with the Institute of Musicology and with the Bartók Archives became more intensive with the inclusion of musicologist and Bartók expert, László Vikárius. Due to that, the art compilation selected by us is richly illustrated with exceptional documents coming partly from Béla Bartók’s estate. An exhibition catalogue is available in French, including the essays written by Krisztina Passuth, György Szücs and the American Jack Flam for the catalogues of Hungarian Fauves and The Eight. You can also read about the French interpretation of Bartók’s folk music research penned by the French musicologist Jean-François Boukobza. The publication is introduced by Guy Cogeval’s interview with conductor Pierre Boulez, the most internationally noted interpreter of Bartók’s music. The Musée d’Orsay has prepared several additional events, concerts and specialist conferences in order to involve as wide a range of visitors as possible.