International studio (42.1910)

Studio- Talk

at the Vienna Exhibitions of 1873 and 1884 he
went unnoticed, and only began to find apprecia-
tion in 1896, when all the young Hungarian artists
were disciples of theplein-air school; but he found
real recognition first at the Munich International
Exhibition of 1901. Embittered by neglect, he
abandoned his work for a long period, and took to
agriculture ; only within the last ten or fifteen years
has he seriously resumed his work as a painter,
especially since his collective exhibition in 1905.
The Oculi is the work of a hunter who on his
many lonely expeditions has not only saturated
himself with knowledge of form, but also with
deep feeling. Szinyei-Merse is now
Director of the Academy of Arts.

B. L. n- ,r ......-

traiture. He painted many large canvases, some
of which may be described as dithyrambs of sen-
suousness. They did not represent the breaking
out of atavistic impulses, but a peculiar, refined
eroticism such as is tolerated by the best society
under another name. But these paintings of
Mark had no very great success. By-and-by came
the change in artistic conceptions; the revolu-
tionary forces of Impressionism, clamouring for
light, made a heavy assault on the walls of
studios. His subjects savoured too much of
"barock" or " Biedermeyer," and his studies at
this time testify to an effort to accommodate him-

Among the leaders ot modern
art in this city, one of the most
popular is Lajos Mark; and the
reason is not far to seek. Mark
painted the portraits of the
city's fashionable beauties, and in
addition, like Laszld, has put on
his canvas subjects of international
interest. The public here were
fascinated by the elegance of his
art, and his luxurious colour-
schemes filled them with joy.
Mark seems to have made him-
self the historian of the " exclusive
set," that wealthy class whose
riches were acquired at the time
when Buda Pesth began to expand
rapidly. He lived among and
painted this little world of pluto-
crats leading lives of lordly luxury,
and it is not to be wondered at
that in an atmosphere of this kind,
whence little or no sympathy with
earnest work was forthcoming,
Mark made no effort to give ex-
pression to the highest qualities
of portrait painting. But if the
public idolised him, the art critics
gave him the cold shoulder, and
his prestige with his fellow-artists
suffered in consequence. Owing
to this, Mark abstained from send- ••
ing his works to the exhibitions
for quite a number of years.

During his earlier period Mark's
work was not confined to por- "breakfast" by louis mark

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