Rozsda, a pupil of Aba-Novák, was a founding member of the European School (1945-48), one of the most important art movements in 20th century Hungarian art.
Both of the exhibitions can be seen in the Bateau Lavoir, a block of buildings in Montmarte where Rozsda lived from 1979 until his death. (Artists have long been drawn to the location. Others who have lived there include Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Derain, Dufy, Modigliani, Lipchnitz and Metzinger.) One of the shows, organised with the cooperation of the Hungarian Institute in Paris, features some of Rozsda's paintings from the 70s as well as 35 black-and-white photographs selected by Károly Kincses.
Kincses said Rozsda took photographs for his entire life and left several thousand images after he died. These show he was just as great a photographer as he was a painter, he added.
One-third of the photographs on display, from the collection of the Hungarian Museum of Photography, were earlier exhibited in Hungary, but the rest have never before been seen before in public.
The images include self-portraits, as well as ones of the surrounding area and of trips abroad. Rozsda was never interested in anything in and of itself, Kincses said. Rather only in that which he could make his own: he showed that photography was not just a reflection of reality, but could also create reality.
Just a few steps away from the venue for the exhibition, on the ground floor of the Bateau Lavoir, is the La Hune Brenner Gallery, which is showing a selection of Rozsda's drawings and water colours from his time as a member of the European School in the 40s.
The works were revealed for the first time only after the artist's death, said José Mangani, who heads the Endre Rozsda Circle of Friends.
The exhibitions can be seen until September 26. Afterward, the Kisgaléria in Pécs will show a selection of Rozsda's works.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
