Count Gyula Batthyány [antikvár]

It was almost thirty years ago that I first encountered Gyula Batthyány's art, at the MOM Community Centre, where an exhibition was being held by BAV. At the time, BAV was a state-owned company and the only organisation permitted to trade in art in Hungary. These auctions were celebrations for me; I attended every exhibilion at least four times. On one of these occasions I discovered Gyula Batthyány's paintings: they were unusual works and very different from any pictures t had seen before. The world that he created was exciting for me, and I wanted to own his paintings. I bought my first Batthyány painting, which was followed by further acquisitions, in the second half of the 19805. A few years later I managed to acquire Carouse/, one of the most important pieces of the oeuvre. I could buy it only on hire purchase, and for the amount I paid, I could have bought several paintings by József Rippl-Rónai instead, But I needed that picture, because I was always interested in masterpieces reflecting the quality of a painter's work. In recent years. I have spoken to many people from the world of art, including collectors, art dealers and art historians. I usually know their tastes: I know their favourites and I can guess when they will turn their noses up at something. I have met a lot of people who look at Batthyány's works with repulsion. Others admire them. But I have never met anybody who remained indifferent to his art. This makes it worth paying attention to the artist. I have always thought that if an artist is able to generate ar> intense aversion, his work must conceal something important, striking a note lo which sensitive nerve endings resonate. I have participated in several discussions about Gyula Batthyány's art. I have always argued for it, while looking forward to the time when I could also point to the artist's failings. We have not reached that time, however, as Batthyány's art has yet to attain the reputation it deserves. People's tastes and judgements vary. And the real connoisseur knows that art is never a race on a single track; one cannot demand the same norms from different artists. Quality is not only achieved through the constructive creation of forms and reductionism. Similarly, clean silent voices, plebeian Puritanism or artistic asceticism are not the only means of creating value. Gyula Batthyány is not Gyula Derkovits or Lajos Kassák. In painting, just as in music, there are different genres and styles—each bearing its own intrinsic value. We admire the works of Sargent, Boldini, Lempicka and Pülöp László, even though they evoke a sensual visual experience and uninhibited joy rather than dramatic shock. There is more than one list of top artists. When, after the success of the album on Vilmos Aba-Novák, Népszabadság Publishing House asked me to recommend a twentieth-century Hungarian painter for a new series of books, I immediately thought of Gyula Batthyány. Not only because his peculiar painting style and exciting world serve to guarantee success both in Hungary and abroad, but also because his career and fate are so closely linked with Hungary's turbulent history over the past century. Indeed, through his figure it is possible to model a way of interpretation that enables us to present Hungarian painting abroad. I have always thought that these two fields should be combined; Hungary's special feature is its past: the series of attacks that Hungary had to suffer again and again in the twentieth century. There is no other land whose elite was tortured and swept away so many times. Hungary has no rivals in this field. Two years ago, a prominent review was published in a magazine concerning the second volume of the album Modern Hungarian Painting. The reviewer argued that Batthyány's figure had been overstressed in the album and found fault with the number of the Battyhány reproductions in the book. As the editor of the volume, I answered as follows: "It IS sure/y difficult to understand thai someone who is enthusiastic about Vajda, who prefers silent, clean tones in art, can see the quality of Batthyány's painting. However, one can enjoy raspberry juice just as much as fine wine, as we// as different kinds of mineral water it is possible to recognize value in different fields. I have spent much time visiftng museums afarood. / /lave learnt that our orf can look quite different from abroad, in the eyes of the world, and that people's relationship to pictures is defined by different 'legal' tastes and artistic value judgements. Batthyány's art represents a great opportunity for Hungarian painting to gain interna<(ona//ame. People abroad react to his art in a more sens/five way ihan to the pieces of our 'crystallized' artists. It is a real chance. because—if the pieces are chosen and organized with competence—the virfuosic and sensua/ themes he chose can serve as the foundation of success." Tamái Kl*«*lbach