To the Lebanese cedars
So it happened with a modest Hungarian pharmacist with a hard-to-remember name for us Tivadar Kostka Chontvari. He sat in his pharmacy in a small Carpathian village called Iglo, sorted out unreadable prescriptions, released drops and pills, and listened to the complaints of old women that the powders supposedly did not help. He sat for a long time, more than a dozen years. And suddenly warm summer night In 1881 he had a dream...
Kostka did not tell anyone about his dream, but literally the next day he rented out a pharmacy, collected all the cash, bought brushes and paints, and went straight to Lebanon to paint Lebanese cedars.
The newly-minted artist did not appear in his pharmacy anymore. Traveled to Greece, Italy, North Africa traveled, and during this time he created more than a hundred paintings.
He wrote the following about himself: “I, Tivadar Kostka, gave up my youth for the sake of the renewal of the world. When I received initiation from the invisible spirit, I had a secure position, I lived in abundance and comfort. But I left my homeland because I wanted to see her at the end of my rich and glorious life. To achieve this, I traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa. I wanted to find the truth predicted to me and turn it into painting.
"Old Fisherman"
The value of his works has been questioned by many critics. In Europe, they were exhibited (albeit without much success), but in their native Hungary, Chontvari was once and for all called crazy. Only towards the end of his life did he come to Budapest and bring his canvases there. I tried to bequeath them to the local museum, but no one needed them. In 1919, Tivadar Kostka Chontvari really went crazy and died poor, lonely, ridiculed and useless.
Having buried the unfortunate, the relatives began to share the good. And the goodness of everything was - only pictures. And so, after consulting with the "experts", they decided to scrap the canvases, like an ordinary canvas, and divide the money among themselves, so that everything was fair.
At this time, quite by chance, a young architect Gedeon Gerlotsi passed by. It was he who saved the artist's creations, paying for them a little more than the junk dealer offered.
Now the paintings of Tivadar Chontvari are kept in the museum of the city of Pecs (Hungary).
And just recently, one of the museum employees, in the process of examining Kostka's painting "The Old Fisherman", painted in 1902, came up with the idea of attaching a mirror to it. And then he saw that the picture on the canvas was not one, but at least two! Try to divide the canvas yourself with a mirror, and you will see either a god sitting in a boat against the backdrop of a peaceful, one might say, paradise landscape, or the devil himself, behind whom black waves are raging. Or maybe in other paintings of Chontvari, there are hidden meaning? After all, it turns out that a former pharmacist from the village of Iglo was not so simple.
Unknown to anyone 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 medical practice. But before taking up pharmacology, the young man managed to graduate from high school, work as a sales clerk, learn law faculty. And after all this, he turned to the family business. Arriving at the pharmacy, Tivadar worked there for fourteen long years.
Once, 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 a 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 the northern part of 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.
Seriously engaged in painting Chontvari (such a pseudonym in 1900 the artist took for himself) began 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 art school 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 goes to Karlsruhe, where he continues to take lessons, now from Kallmorgen. Biographers of the artist say that he lived comfortably at that time, buying for work best canvases Belgian production.
Last years
Studying did not bring satisfaction to Chontvari. 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 heritage
More than one hundred and fifty paintings and drawings were left by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari. The painting "The Old Fisherman", written in 1902, is perhaps the most famous of all, "significant". Most of the work was created in short period between 1903 and 1909. It was creative flourishing an artist, a flash of genius. In their style, they are akin to expressionism. His work is also credited with the features of symbolism, post-impressionism and even surrealism.
Posthumous recognition
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. Later he placed the canvases at the Budapest School of Fine Arts, and in 1949 he 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 Chontvari, who did not sell a single painting during his lifetime, has become known throughout the world.
"Old fisherman": a 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. On the fisherman - a black blouse, 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 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 range of colors, muted soft colors prevail: dove, gray, sand, shades of brown.
The mystery of the painting "The Old Fisherman"
What discovery did the employee of the museum 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 piece 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 we reflect the left side, we will see a man in a pointed hat with slanting eyes and raging waves behind him.
Interpretation
The painting "The Old Fisherman" marked the beginning of the search for mystical hints in the works of Chontvari. 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 Chontvari is an example of a series of happy accidents (or great destiny who 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 of Hungary.
More recently, the painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari "The Old Fisherman", written by him in 1902, has become the subject of close attention of art critics. specular reflection alternately, the left and right parts of the picture create two completely different images - God in a boat against the backdrop of a calm lake, or the Devil on a volcano and stormy waters behind.
After opening this fact, the recognition of the creativity of the author of the picture was approached differently. But what did Tivadar Chontvari want to say with his work? Many suspected the connection of the artist's work with mysticism and with great zeal began to study the legacy of the Hungarian painter.
Until recently, only a few who are interested in painting, in particular, expressionism and primitivism, knew the name of the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvary. About the painter who died in poverty almost 100 years ago, who, moreover, was considered crazy (some researchers of his biography think that Tivadar was ill with schizophrenia), quite recently many started talking.
The fact is that one of the employees of the city museum in Pec, examining the painting by Tivadar Chontvari "The Old Fisherman", discovered that if you divide the canvas in half with a mirror, you get two different images!
This detail interested not only many art historians, but also ordinary people. They started talking about the secret mysticism of the work, the attitude towards creative heritage Hungarian self-taught. In Russia, interest in this fact grew after the release of the program “What? Where? When?" dated October 1, 2011, during which the viewer, with a question about the painting "The Old Fisherman", managed to beat the connoisseurs.
Most plausible version regarding the idea embedded in the picture is the opinion about the dualistic nature of human nature, which Tivadar wanted to convey. A person spends his whole life in a constant struggle between two principles: male and female, good and evil, intuitive and logical. These are the ingredients of life. Like the god and the devil in the Chontwari painting, they complement each other, without one there is no other.
"Old fisherman" as the embodiment of a lived life and human wisdom with the help of simple reception shows how bad and good, good and evil, god and devil harmonize in each of us. And to balance them is the task of each person.
In our online store you can purchase a reproduction mysterious picture and create this masterpiece yourself.
Until recently, only a few who are interested in painting, in particular, expressionism and primitivism, knew the name of the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvary. About the painter who died in poverty almost 100 years ago, who, moreover, was considered crazy (some researchers of his biography think that Tivadar was ill with schizophrenia), quite recently many started talking.
The fact is that one of the employees of the city museum in Pec, examining the painting by Tivadar Chontvari "The Old Fisherman", discovered that if you divide the canvas in half with a mirror, you get two different images! This detail interested not only many art historians, but also ordinary people. They started talking about the secret mysticism of the work, the attitude towards the creative heritage of the Hungarian self-taught was revised. In Russia, interest in this fact grew after the release of the program “What? Where? When?" dated October 1, 2011, during which the viewer, with a question about the painting "The Old Fisherman", managed to beat the connoisseurs.
Unrecognized artist
Tivadar Kostka Chontvari was born in 1853 in the small Hungarian village of Kishseben. His father was a doctor and pharmacist, was interested in science, was a staunch opponent of alcohol and tobacco, and vehemently advocated their ban. Elementary education Tivadar received here, but after a fire in 1866 he moved to his mother's relatives in Uzhgorod. After graduating high school, worked as a trader's assistant in Presov.
From his father, Laszlo, young Tivadar Chontwari inherited an interest in pharmacology. As a result, he received a pharmaceutical education at the University of Budapest, and later studied law and worked as a clerk for the deputy mayor of the capital. During his studies, he was respected by other students, was elected head of the student organization, participated in the strikes of 1879.
Tivadar began his career as an artist in 1880. One autumn day, while working in a pharmacy, he looked out the window, mechanically picked up a pencil, a prescription form, and began to draw. It was not something abstract - a cart passing by was captured on paper. The owner of the pharmacy, seeing the picture, praised Chontvari, saying that the artist was born only today. Later, already at the end of his life, Tivadar himself, in his autobiography, written in his characteristic mystical and prophetic manner, describing what had happened, said that he had a vision. It was this that prompted Tivadar his destiny - to become a great painter.
Since that time, Tivadar Kostka began to travel in order to get acquainted with the work of great artists. He traveled to the Vatican and Paris. Then he returned to Hungary, opened his own pharmacy and devoted himself completely to work in order to gain financial independence and do what he was, in his opinion, born for. Tivadar painted his first picture in 1893. A year later, he went to Germany (Munich, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf) and France (Paris) to study drawing. However, the newly minted artist quickly got tired of this, and in 1895 he went on a trip to Italy, Greece, the Middle East and Africa to paint local landscapes. Over time, he began to sign his paintings not with the name Kostka, but with the pseudonym Chontvari.
Tivadar Chontvari was engaged in painting until 1909. At that time, his illness began to progress (presumably schizophrenia, which was accompanied by megalomania), and rare paintings became a reflection of surrealistic visions. The artist also wrote several allegorical philosophical treatises. During his life, Tivadar never sold any of his paintings - exhibitions in Paris were not particularly popular, and there were almost none at home. The painter died in 1919, never having received recognition for his talent.
God and the Devil in the painting "The Old Fisherman"
More recently, the subject of close attention of art critics has been the painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari “The Old Fisherman”, written by him in 1902. By mirroring the left and right parts of the painting alternately, two completely different images are created - God in a boat against the backdrop of a calm lake, or the Devil on a volcano and storm waters behind.
After the discovery of this fact, the recognition of the author of the picture was approached differently. But what did Tivadar Chontvari want to say with his work? Many suspected the connection of the artist's work with mysticism and with great zeal began to study the heritage of the Hungarian painter.
The most plausible version of the idea embedded in the picture is the opinion about the dualistic nature of human nature, which Tivadar wanted to convey. A person spends his whole life in a constant struggle between two principles: male and female, good and evil, intuitive and logical. These are the ingredients of life. Like the god and the devil in the Chontwari painting, they complement each other, without one there is no other.
The “Old Fisherman”, as the embodiment of a lived life and human wisdom, with the help of a simple technique, shows how bad and good, good and evil, god and devil harmonize in each of us. And to balance them is the task of each person.
The post was inspired by the program "What, where, when?". Let me start with a riddle.
This is a painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari called "The Old Fisherman". At first glance, there is nothing particularly remarkable in it, as art critics also thought, but once it was suggested that God and the devil are depicted on it. The mystery is why such an idea was born. Under the cut there will be a bigger picture, a biography and a clue :)
Did you guess? No? Maybe the details will give you an answer?
I’ll torment a little more with a story about the artist himself. Who can not wait, fly down for an answer.
self-portrait
Tivadar Kostka was born on July 5, 1853, in the mountain village of Kishseben, which belonged to Austria (now Sabinov, Slovakia) - a self-taught Hungarian artist.
His father Lasli Kostka was a doctor and pharmacist. Tivadar and his five brothers grew up in an atmosphere saturated with the spirit of pharmacology. Future artist Since childhood, he knew that he would become a pharmacist. But before becoming one, he changed many professions—he worked as a sales employee, attended lectures at the Faculty of Law for some time, and only then studied pharmacology.
Once, he was already 28 years old, while in a pharmacy, he grabbed a pencil and drew on a prescription form a simple scene he saw from the window - a passing cart drawn by buffaloes. Was it the beginning of the schizophrenia that he suffered from later on, but since then the dream of becoming an artist has gripped him.
He goes to Rome, then to Paris, where he meets with the famous Hungarian artist Mihai Munkácsy (who, by the way, also ended his life in a psychiatric hospital). And then he returns to his homeland, and for fourteen years he works in a pharmacy, trying to achieve financial independence. Having accumulated a small capital, he goes to study first in Munich, and then in Paris.
Study did not bring him satisfaction. Therefore, in 1895, he went on a trip to Italy to paint landscapes. He also traveled in Greece, North Africa and the Middle East.
In 1900 he changed his surname Kostka to the pseudonym Chontvari.
Already in 1907 and in 1910 personal exhibitions in Paris, but they did not bring him recognition. His paintings did not receive recognition in Hungary, and the author had a reputation as a madman.
In 1910, the period of creation ended. The attacks of the disease became more and more severe. He drew very rarely now, only sketches of his surrealistic visions.
IN last years he wrote books: the pamphlet “Energy and Art, Mistakes civilized man"and the study" Genius. Who can and who cannot be a genius.
During his lifetime, the artist did not sell any of his paintings.
Last main picture A Shore Trip was written in Naples in 1909.
On June 20, 1919, the artist Chontvari died, as they say, of arthritis.
Relatives, consulted with experts, they assured them of the complete artistic failure of Tivadar as an artist, and soon the paintings were put up for auction not as works of art, but as pieces of canvas. A random collector (random one?) Bought all the paintings in bulk for a meager amount that satisfied short-sighted (or still deceived) nephews.
Well, now the answer :) Take a mirror and put it in the center of the picture and you will see these answers :)
God, with a calm sea at your back.
And the devil with raging passions.
