"József RIPPL-RÓNAI (1861, 1927) -Portrait of a young boy in a blue blouse - Circa 1891/1894"
Oil on canvas signed at the top left
Dimensions: 46 x 55 cm, with frame: 77 x 68 cm.
The painting is double-sided, the back of the canvas presents a portrait of a woman in profile with a pearl.
Rippl-Rónai was the first to introduce a new modernity into Hungarian art.He approaches painting in a very eclectic way. He is gifted and imbibes the painters who surround him. His painting style has evolved over his encounters and his influences without ever being locked in any theory.
This portrait of great sensitivity portrays a melancholic young boy with a gentle look painted three quarters. Her clothing, a blue blouse harmonizes with the color of her light eyes. The background, painted in a shade of brown, is neutral leaving nothing to see of the decor.
The touch is removed, light and fluid, only the face is painted with more precision. This work dates from his Parisian period also called "the black period" during which the artist exhibits with the nabis and expresses himself using a restrained palette and restricted pictorial means.We can also see the influence of the painters Eugène Carrière but also that of the American painter James Whistler.
After having studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Rippl-Ronaï arrived in Paris in 1887 where he joined the workshop of his compatriot Mihàly Munkácsy, the Hungarian realist painter in vogue at the time.
During the summer of 1889 in Pont-Aven, he discovered the Nabis painters and became enthusiastic about their paintings. With his friend Maillol, Rippl-Ronai becomes a member of the group, in which his talent ensures him a place of choice and he exhibits with them from 1891. The "Hungarian Nabi" meets Gauguin, Bonnard, Vuillard, Toulouse Lautrec.
He met with great success during his first solo exhibition in 1892 at the Palais Galliéra.
In 1902, back in Hungary, he painted landscapes, portraits and vivid and colorful scenes of family life. An exhibition entitled "Rippl-Rónai impressions 1890-1900" pays tribute to him.
In 1899, it was in Banyuls-sur-mer, at the home of his friend Maillol, that he discovered the taste of painting more "joyful", all in colors.
He then approaches a richly decorative style with cloisonné drawing where the pure colors applied by spots are surrounded by a thick black line.
Between 1911 and 1913, his exhibitions in Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna met with great success. In 1911, he moved to Budapest and published his memoirs.
Museums: Paris, Orsay Museum, National Museum of Modern Art,
Hungary, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungarian National Gallery, Rippl-Ronai Museum in Kasovar .
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of NY