TOWARD RECOGNITION

par José Mangani

March 1, 2015

André Breton was the first to express himself about Rozsda's work. Alain Jouffroy, Joyce Mansour, René Micha, Sarane Alexandrian, Édouard Jaguer, Arturo Schwarz followed him. Welcomed by the press in 1957 as "the only painter who survived the Hungarian revolution", Rozsda experienced a moment of "glory" when, after his 1963 exhibition at the Furstenberg gallery, he received the Copley prize. After Breton's death and the closure of Simone Collinet's gallery, Rozsda decided to work on his canvases without time constraints, leading a withdrawn existence, without worrying about the art market, fashion and his notoriety. His working method and the path he then embarked on led him to work on several works simultaneously, bringing them up on the easel one after another according to his inspiration. For each one, the work only ended, sometimes after several years, at the moment when the painting returned his gaze to him. Great collectors allowed him to respond to this exigency and to have the necessary freedom for the realization of this project. At the end of his life, encouraged by Germain Viatte, director of the National Gallery of Modern Art, in Paris, Rozsda decided to make his work known (silenced by Stalinist historians) in his native country, while continuing to manifest his attachment to France(1). This mission became that of his close ones, within the Association of Friends of Endre Rozsda(2) which for 20 years made the different aspects of his art discovered in the greatest Hungarian museums. A core of faithful ones worked tirelessly to succeed in this challenge. In France: Françoise Gilot, Ervin Rosenberg, David Rosenberg, Csaba Benedek, Chantal Hourcade, Antoine de Palaminy and Benjamin Straub. In Hungary: Júlia Cserba, Károly Szalóki and Tamás Ónody. The retrospective "Time Regained" in June 2017 at the Senate Orangery opened a dynamic that will show Rozsda's work to France; the country that knew how to adopt him, where his art reached full maturity. This first issue of Mélusine numérique, which brings together the proceedings of the first study day devoted to Rozsda, on March 10, 2018, thus marks a new stage for the recognition of his work. A big thank you to Henri Béhar, Françoise Py, Sophie Béhar, Loïc Le Bail and to the Association for Research and Study of Surrealism.

1. For its part, France manifested its support for Rozsda by allowing the repatriation of all his work in 1957 and by making the events organized in Hungary benefit from the sponsorship of its diplomacy.
2. Housed in Rozsda's former studio, at the Bateau-Lavoir, where his archives are still located. This place of research and exchange can also be discovered by appointment (www.rozsda.com).