The Barbarian Genius Shows in Debrecen

The exhibition shows a retrospective of some 150 works by Aba-Novák, who died in 1941. It takes its name - The Barbarian Genius - from Picasso's exclamation after seeing Aba-Novák's works at the 1937 Paris Exhibition: "Who is that barbarian genius?"

 

The paintings are on loan from some 50 private collectors as well as public collections in Hungary, Rome, Riga, Kaunas (Lithuania) and Nové Zámky (Slovakia).  

 

One of the curiosities at the exhibition - the idea of curator Péter Molnos - is a section devoted to fakes. Aba-Novák is one of only a few Hungarian artists whose works were forged in his own lifetime.

 

The exhibition highlights Aba-Novák's frescoes in another section. Among the works on display are plans and other documentation for frescoes on the Heroes' Gate in Szeged and in the Roman Catholic Church of Jászszentandrás. Few know that the fresco in Szeged was plastered over in 1945 only to be uncovered and restored for the Millennium. At the church in Jászsentandrás, some parishioners are said to have been made sick by Aba-Novák's striking depiction of Hell.

 

Vilmos Aba-Novák: Street Musicians (1929)

Perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of the exhibition features works Aba-Novák made during his time at the Hungarian Academy in Rome, which also hosted Aba-Novák's Hungarian contemporaries Károly Patkó, István Szőnyi and Pál Pátzay. Together they became the first representatives of the so-called "Roman School". The movement was not about Italian life or the past. Rather the artists' works moved closer to cubism, showing strong contrasts and much use of light and shadows.

 

Debrecen's MODEM has once again brought us a world-class exhibition worthy of the works of one of Hungary's greatest painters.

 

Author: Virág Vida / Photo: Tibor Oláh (MTI)