Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, painting "Old Fisherman": photo, the mystery of the painting

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Unknown during his lifetime, the artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, a century after his death, suddenly became famous thanks to his painting "The Old Fisherman". The master himself was confident in his messianic destiny, although his contemporaries called it schizophrenia. Now hidden symbols and veiled allusions are being sought in his paintings. Are they there? One of these works, which have undergone a comprehensive analysis, is the painting "The Old Fisherman".

Unrecognized artist

In 1853, the future painter was born in the Hungarian village of Kishseben. The fate of Tivadar and his five brothers was predetermined from childhood. They were trained to continue their father's work. And the parent was a pharmacist and had a medical practice. But before taking up pharmacology, the young man managed to graduate from high school, work as a sales clerk, and study at the Faculty of Law. And after all this, he turned to the family business. Arriving at the pharmacy, Tivadarworked here for fourteen long years.

One day, when he was 28, on a normal working day, he grabbed a prescription form and a pencil and sketched out a plot: a cart that was passing by the window at that moment, with buffalo harnessed to it. Before that, he did not show a penchant for drawing, but later in his autobiography he wrote that on that day he had a vision that prophesied the fate of the great painter.

By the spring of 1881, Tivadar Kostka opened his pharmacy in northern Hungary and saved enough money to travel to Italy. Like all young artists, he dreamed of seeing the masterpieces of the old masters. He was especially attracted to the paintings of Raphael. I must say that later he was disappointed in the idol, not finding in nature on his canvases the proper liveliness and sincerity. After Rome, Kostka goes to Paris, and then to his homeland.

Chontvari (this pseudonym was taken by the artist in 1900) began to seriously engage in painting in the mid-1890s. He leaves his pharmacy to the brothers and comes to Munich to study painting. In many sources, Kostka is called self-taught, but meanwhile he studied at the art school of his famous compatriot, more successful in the field of art - Shimon Kholoshi. The teacher was almost ten years younger than his student.

In Munich, Chontvari creates several portraits. The print of sadness on the faces of the models sets them apart in relation to the more cheerful rest of his work. He paints natural portraits only during his studies, later losing interest in this. After leaving Munich, the artist goesin Karlsruhe, where he continues to take lessons, now with Kallmorgen. The artist's biographers say that he lived comfortably at that time, buying the best Belgian-made canvases for work.

Recent years

Study did not bring satisfaction to Chontwari. It seemed that he comprehended the laws of painting only to break them. In 1895, he again went to Italy to work in nature in his favorite landscape genre. The artist visits not only Italy, but also France, Greece, the Middle East and Lebanon.

In 1907-1910, several of his personal exhibitions were held in Paris, Budapest and at home. They do not bring him special fame, although some critics speak very favorably. In Hungary, the artist is generally spoken of as crazy. It is no secret that he suffered from bouts of schizophrenia, but still hoped for the recognition of his compatriots.

By 1910, the disease began to progress. The attacks became more and more difficult, the work was difficult. Chontwari hardly writes anymore, making only small sketches. He did not complete any work, although he made attempts. At the age of sixty, the artist died in Budapest, where he was buried.

Creative legacy

More than one hundred and fifty paintings and drawings left behind Tivadar Kostka Chontvari. The painting "The Old Fisherman", written in 1902, is perhaps the most famous of all, "significant". Most of the works were created in the short period between 1903 and 1909. It was the creative flourishing of the artist, a flash of genius. In their style, they are akin to expressionism. Symbolism, post-impressionism and even surrealism are also attributed to his work.

Posthumous confession

After the death of Chontvari, his works survived only by a miracle. The sister turned to the appraisers to find out how much they could get for the paintings. They assured her that their artistic value is zero. Then the woman reasoned that if the paintings are bad, then the canvases, at least, will be useful to someone. And put them up for sale. All the work was taken by the architect Gedeon Gerlotsi, outbidding the price of the junk dealer. He later exhibited the paintings at the Budapest School of Fine Arts, and in 1949 exhibited them in Belgium and France.

Before his death, the architect gave his collection to Zoltan Fülep, the future director of the Chontvari Museum. It was already a success. But the artist would have remained known only to a narrow circle of admirers in his homeland, if, almost a century after his death, one of the museum workers had not discovered a certain secret that the painting “Old Fisherman” still kept. Since then, the name of Chontwari, who did not sell a single painting during his lifetime, has become known throughout the world.

"Old fisherman": description of the painting

Almost the entire space of the canvas is occupied by the figure of an elderly man. The gale ruffles his hair and old worn clothes. The fisherman is wearing a black blouse, a gray beret and a raincoat. He leans on a staff and looks straight at the viewer. His face is rough-skinned and covered with a frequent network of wrinkles. In the background, the artist has placed the bay. Waves break on the shore, thick smoke comes out of the chimneys of houses on the shore. On the horizon line are mountains, or rather their silhouettes, hidden by a milky fog. In relation to the figure of the fisherman, the landscape is secondary and plays the role of a background.

The painting "The Old Fisherman" by Chontvari is solved in a restrained color scheme, muted soft colors prevail: dove, gray, sand, shades of brown.

The mystery of the painting "Old Fisherman"

What discovery did the museum employee make? Let's break the intrigue: he discovered that if you close half of the canvas and reflect the rest symmetrically, you get a completely finished work of art. And it works in both cases: both on the right and on the left side of the picture. This is the secret that the painting “Old Fisherman” kept for almost a hundred years. Photos of the mounted halves can now be easily found on the Internet. The reflection of the right half is a handsome old man, whitened with gray hairs, against the background of the sea surface. If you flip the left side, we see a man in a pointed hat with slanted eyes and raging waves behind him.

Interpretation

The painting "Old Fisherman" marked the beginning of the search for mystical hints in the works of Chontwari. Added fuel to the fire and the fact that during his lifetime the artist often switched to a prophetic tone. This canvas is usually interpreted as a symbol of dual human nature: both light and dark halves, good and evil coexist in one man. She is sometimes also referred to as "God and the Devil", again reflecting her dualism.

Truly, the success story of Tivadar Kostka Chontwari is an example of a series of happy accidents (or a great destiny that appeared to him in visions, who knows?). The painting "The Old Fisherman" - genius and madness - ironically became his key to world fame. Unfortunately, recognition did not come to him during his lifetime. But today, Chontvari is considered one of the best and most original artists in Hungary.