Kállai Ernő német nyelven megjelent írásainak könyvészeti jegyzéke (1938-1944) •
Authors: Tímár Árpád 
Published: May 2023

A collection of Ernő Kállai’s writings was published forty years ago, in 1981, by Corvina publisher. The pieces were selected, prefaced and the bibliography compiled by Éva Forgács. (Kállai Ernő: Művészet veszélyes csillagzat alatt. Válogatott cikkek, tanulmányok [art under a perilous constellation. Selected articles, studies]. Ed. and pref. Éva Forgács. Budapest 1981). Kállai’s last – published – writing appeared about lászló Mednynászky in the paper Politika on 9 July 1949. He was excommunicated from the profession, silenced, he lived in misery. He made ends meet by translating, selling items of his library, or pawning. “Old chum, i learnt yesterday that the ‘Breton Calvaries’ was only worth 35 forints. That’s the price then i want for them. Segers, Hausenstein – Klee are absolute rarities or amateur values, so i can wholeheartedly recommend them to your Excellency’s attention. Can we strike a bargain?” “By the way, i must return the typewriter to doctor Kővári. That means, until i can redeem mine, i must obtrude myself on you. and type on the small remington. – i’m sorry,” he wrote to his friend Miklós Szentkuthy in 1949. (Szentkuthy Miklós válogatott levelezése [Selected correspondence of M.Sz.] Ed. Hernád imre. Budapest 2008, 150–151.) Sporadically one or another Kállai writing appeared in anthologies before 1981 (Kortársak szemével. Írások a Magyar művészetről [Through the eyes of contemporaries. Writings about Hungarian art]. Ed. and pref. Perneczky Géza. Budapest 1967; Kritikák és képek. Válogatás a Magyar képzőművészet dokumentumaiból 1945–1975 [reviews and pictures. Selection from the documents of Hungarian arts 1945–1975] Compiled: art Historical research Group, HaS. Budapest 1976.). His books – cherished treasures of their owners – passed from hand to hand among the interested.

Already Éva Forgács stressed that “the precondition for restoring him to his deserved place in the history of Hungarian art which he lost thirty years ago is, apart from the collection and publication of his works, a change in attitude: not least, the still viable convention must be superseded which values and ranks a mediocre aesthete or art philosopher higher, takes him more seriously than an outstanding critic, saying that after all, he is only a critic.” (Forgács Éva: Bevezető [introduction]. in Kállai op.cit. 9). This work was accomplished by árpád Tímár, who edited the works of Ernő Kállai in eight volumes.

He knew best the history of art criticism in Hungary whose foundations he laid with several decades of research into the “cemetery of dailies”, publishing writings by imre Henszlmann, lajos Fülep, György lukács, leó Popper, artúr Elek. The Kállai collection fits in this series. He termed the “possibly complete” bibliography in the volume edited by Éva Forgács a “till now unavoidable” starting point (Kállai Ernő: Összegyűjtött írások = Ernst Kállai: Gesammelte Werke i. articles, studies in Hungarian 1912–1925. Ed., after-word: Tímár árpád. Budapest 1999, 236), but during his researches he corrected and extended her list. He worked alone elaborating the Hungarian articles, and with Csilla Markója and Monika Wucher in libraries of Munich, Berlin, Pozsony and Vienna to scan the majority of German-language papers inaccessible then (and today) in Hungary, exploring several so-far unknown writings. The collected material appeared in eight elegant tomes between 1999 and 2010 (Kállai Ernő: Összegyűjtött írások = Ernst Kállai: Gesammelte Werke. i–Vi, Viii, X. Budapest 1999–2012), except volumes 7 and 9, which ought to have contained the articles published in german in 1938–1944 (in Forum, Pester Lloyd). árpád Tímár prepared the bibliography of this material – which differs in volume and the accuracy of the items from the list presented in 1981 – but he had no drive or energy to type the text of hundreds of pages; he wished to work on more important engagements. Was he right to think others could also finish this project? Well, as long as it remains a project for the future, we offer some help for those interested with the bibliography of articles written in German between 1938 and 1944