Mihály Munkácsy and/und László Paál [antikvár]

PREFACE Soon after mid 19th century, Hungarian painting assumed a more colourful and varied character. Although some of the styles that had developed in the first half of the century continued to flourish and exert an influence, by the 1970s there emerged artistic ways which owed much to a powerful protest against, and firm rejection of, the old trends. Though the old and the new continued to exist side by side, their traditional opposition took on a sharper than usual form. The reasons must be sought in the social change in the highly developed capitalist countries as a result of the progress made by the modern natural sciences. It led to a liberalisation of social attitudes and changes in the approach to nature and to the arts. This new view sharply turned against academic idealisation in painting, considering it as rigid, outdated and conservative, and opted for a more direct, true-to-life portrayal of the relationship between man and nature and relations between people. The new view made scarcely mark on the numerous artists who carried on in the spirit they had been trained in at the academies. They included painters of advanced years, who stuck to a Romanticism elevated to classical status, like Miklós Barabás and József Molnár. The best painters of the Hungarian national Romantic school, such as Viktor Madarász and Bertalan Székely, remained faithful, particularly in their historical canvases, to the best traditions of academic painting. Of the officially patronised painters, Gyula Benczúr stood for a historicising academicism, and Károly Lötz for a lighter Gallic elegance. The new approach to nature first became evident in the work of the Barbizon School in France. They revolted against their academic training and started painting en plain air. Direct contact 11