The search for Cezannism in the prac-tice of Adalbert Erdeli of 1930–1940.
Authors:   Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Pavelchuk Ivanna 
Published: December 2023

Pavelchuk I. The search for Cezannism in the practice of Adalbert Erdeli of 1930–1940. The paper explores the trends of Cezannism in the artwork of the prominent Transcarpathian painter Adalbert Erdeli (1891–1955), who was memorized in the history of the Ukrainian art as one of the founders of artistic education in Transcarpathia. Chronological systematization of the visual tendencies in the artwork of A. Erdeli: Impressionism (1915–1926), Cezannism (1930–1940), Fauvism (1943–1955) – was never performed in the Ukrainian art studies before. The process of mastering the principles of Cezannism has become the subject of a dedicated scientifi c study for the fi rst time. Systematized material is considered in various genres of Adalbert Erdeli’ work: landscapes, still-life and thematic compositions. The art review is performed by comparison of the iconography of the Cezanne’s scenes and the artistic interpretations of Adalbert Erdeli. Objectives. The author’s task was to reveal refl ections of Cezannism in the different genres of A. Erdeli’ work. On the basis of results obtained, to systematize the patterns of the fi ne-art process that took place in 1930–1940’. The main focus was the analysis of the iconography of the Cezanne’s scenes of 1859–1890’, which were the object of A. Erdeli’ artistic interpretations up to 1950’. Methods. The study is performed by the art analysis using the method of iconographic comparison. Biographical and comparative research methods proved to be important. The application of the interdisciplinary approach made it possible to ascertain the similarity and make a distinction between the iconography of the Cezanne’s scenes in the artwork of A. Erdeli. The study was carried out in 2010–2018 based on the analysis of paintings from holdings of the Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum named after Joseph Bokshay (TRAM) and private collections, which exhibited paintings of A. Erdeli twice in the Kyiv gallery “NU ART Gallery” (25.05–25.06. 2011, 20.09–27.10. 2018). Since A. Erdeli got a higher education in Hungary, it has actualized the issue of studying the leading tendencies of Hungarian painting at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which were studied at the Hungarian National Gallery in October-December 2014. The main attention was paid to the study of the work of Hungarian colorists: Revesz Imre, Bela Ivanyi-Grünwald, Ferenczy Karoly, Simon Hollosy, Jozsef Rippl-Ronai. Results. In the early 1930’, after A. Erdeli returned from France, he became interested in the tendency of Cezannism, which spread to all genres of his work. The productive trend was realized in the landscapes of the 1930–1940’: “The Uzh River”, “Over the Uzh River”, “The Water Landscape”, “Trees over Water”, “The River Landscape”, “The Pond Landscape”. Although the above-mentioned sketches were created on the plain air, the creative tasks went beyond the bounds of naturalism. Images created by A. Erdeli render his associative impressions of nature. The scenes with reservoirs symbolically symbolize the idea of the illusory nature of life. The scenic iconography is similar to numerous Ce- ВІСНИК Історія мистецтва zanne’s motifs, “The Banks of Marne” (1888). A completely different adaptation of Cezannism revealed in the genre of still life. The plots of 1930–1950’ demonstrate the gradual mastering of experience: from a limited palette in the 1930s to a bright chromatic scale in the 1940s. In the still-life composition, there were shifts towards decorative and plane generalization of forms. Similar processes are observed in still-life pieces of Cezanne in 1880–1890: “Three Pears” (1879) from the National Gallery of Art in Washington; “Still Life with Pomegranate and Pears” (1890) from the d’Orsay Museum; Still Life with the Apples (1890) from the State Hermitage Museum. The artwork of A. Erdeli during the late Cezannism period of the 1940’ had much in common with the work of P. Konchalovsky in 1920’. Interpretations of Cezanne’s “The Bathers” held a remarkable place in the work of A. Erdeli in 1930–1946: “The Bather”, “Nude”, “Nude Sitting” (1930s); “Landscape with a fi gure” (1935), “Nude among the Trees”, “The Bathers” (1937), “A model. Awakening” (1946). The “Nude Among the Trees” (1937) is a unique one, which can rightly be credited to the masterpieces of late A. Erdeli. In this painting, the artistic synthesis of A. Erdeli reached its highest apogee. This artwork combined all the potencies of Cezannism: Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Symbolism, manifested in a single impulse of professional instinct. Conclusions. Features, which were just outlined in the work of A. Erdeli at the beginning of the third decade of the XX century, already in the middle of 1930s developed with complete convincingness: monumentality, simplicity, schematism, frontal, static, decorative planes – all the signs of painting A. Erdeli strengthened. The Ukrainian painter established the artistic myths on the new formal stage of the art synthesis. When absorbing P. Cezanne’ experience, his formal traditions became a productive foundation for the birth of a new and qualitatively different Ukrainian art of the 20th century. Absorption of the Art Nouveau experience in the practice of A. Erdeli, in particular, mastering the fundamental basics of Cezannism, confi rms the organic affi liation of the contemporary Ukrainian art to the European culture. That gave a historic chance to bring the artistic tradition of Transcarpathia from the provincial corner to the path of wide international recognition. Keywords: trend, color, symbol, post-impressionism, style, formalism, Cezannism, synthesis of arts