Not just the size of the offering, but the starting prices - almost half over HUF 1 million - reflect the demand on the market. The catalogue runs the gamut of Hungarian art in the 19th and 20th centuries, including works from Margit Anna to Tihamér Gyarmathy, from Desző Korniss to László Fehér. On the block will be an extraordinary landscape by Béla Veszelszky, whose works are rarely seen at auction, and two portraits by the Russian artist Oleg Dukov. Following the success of the gallery's recent photo auction, four photographs are also in the catalogue.
Twenty lots in the catalogue come from the collection of Dr. Sándor Kürtös, a well known collector of works by the Transylvanian artist István Nagy. The Nagy paintings, as well as three paintings by Gyula Rudnay, are among the highlights from the collection on offer.
The lot with the highest starting price - HUF 25 million - is a still life by Lajos Tihanyi, one of The Eight, a group of Hungarian artists, including Károly Kernstok, Róbert Berény, Bertalan Pór, Dezso Czigány, Béla Czóbel, Ödön Márffy and Dezso Orbán, who were influenced by Paul Cézanne, Fauvism and Art Nouveau.
Aurél Bernáth's Mooring With Gulls (1931), which has been in a foreign collection for more than seven decades, is listed with a starting price of HUF 20 million. Gallery owner Tamás Kieselbach says Bernáth is among those Hungarian artists who have not yet achieved the fame they deserve.
Also starting at HUF 20 million is Csaba Perlrott's Still Life With Peach and Apple (1914). Art historian Péter Molnos says the painting illustrates well the influence of Cézanne's works on young Hungarian avant-garde artists of the time.
An earlier unknown work by Róbert Berény, Still Life (1906), could prove to be a key piece of the artist's oeuvre. The painting, from the former collection of Béla Horváth, was earlier part of a National Gallery exhibition entitled Magyar Vadak and is to travel - with the permission of its new owner, of course - to France in 2008.
With other big names in the catalogue such as József Rippl-Rónai, László Mednyánszky, Béla Kádár, József Egry, Béla Czóbel, János Vaszary, Hugó Scheiber and István Szőnyi, the auction promises to be a big success.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
