Exhibited:
Permanent exhibition of the Hungarian National Gallery from 1994.
Mattis Teutsch and The Blaue Reiter. Mattis Teutsch und Der Blaue Reiter.
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest - Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2001.
Reproduced:
Mattis Teutsch és a Der Blaue Reiter. Mattis Teutsch und Der Blaue Reiter. Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest - Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2001.
Mattis-Teutsch was one of the most leading figures of classical and Hungarian avantgarde which fact was also proved by the exhibitions held in 2001. His graphics, paintings and sculptures were exhibited in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest and in the Haus der Kunst in Munich. The exhibition presented themost important pieces of the oeuvre collected from private and common collections. The Hungarian organisers collected pieces not only from Hungary but also from Switzerland, Germany and the US. The works of the exhibition could also be visited online. Scholarly catalogues were published in Hungary and Germany as well, though their materials, just as that of the exhibitions, were slightly different. The two exhibitions attracted thousands of visitors. Shortly after the closing of the exhibition in Munich some works were presented in Basle, then the Raiffeisen Gallery in Budapest presented some works from the era of 1915-1925.
It is not easy to expose masterpieces of the oeuvre. Still, there are pictures which are better known due to reproductions and exhibitions. These works, of which one of the most popular was the picture under discussion, were given special places by the organisers of the exhibition.
The Red Composition was a piece of the permanent exhibition of the Hungarian National Gallery for years, as it had been bestowed by its owner. It was reproduced in a monograph in 1988 and in the catalogues of the exhibitions (F 110 in the Hungarian,, 693 in the German one).
Mattis-Teutsch's painting can be divided into three thematic groups: landscapes, abstract compositions and pictures representing figures. The picture under discussion belongs to the group of abstract compositions. It is akin to the pieces of the series Spiritual Flowers, which were made in 1924. However, this painting is not a 'spiritual flower' any more; it can be better compared to the compositions following the series. The common feature of these compositions was that the motives were put in the middle and they were applied on the self-colored background. The difference between the two series is, that though the motives of leaves and bugs are still recognisable on the compositions, the straight lines are strongly stressed. These pictures serve as bridges to his works representing figures.
Mattis-Teutsch was born in Brassau. He studied in Budapest, Munich and Paris where he got acquainted to Matisse's art. He wandered a long way from landscapes to the compositions of the later years. His wife death must have been defining in his turning to the oriental philosophies which influenced his painting as well. The series Senses and Spiritual Flowers cannot be interpreted without taking these into consideration.
Mattis-Teutsch apprentices noted that the master made very human works even in his most abstract period. The Red Composition is one of the pictures where the figure of man and woman was not yet shaped but they were indicated in the parts of geometrical forms. The picture was made in 1924 and was foreshadowed by the painter's lino-cut from 1923. A pair of the picture can be found in a famous private collection in Switzerland.
The stickers which can be found on the back sides of both picture show that the carrier of the pictures was Gustav Knauer who worked for the painter in the 1920s and transported the two pictures to the exhibitions of Sturm to Berlin.
Just as other great expressionist painters, for example Kandinsky, Marc, Javlensky, Mattis-Teutsch titled his paintings Composition and usually numbered the pictures in order to distinguish them. This composition has not got any number and it is not known if it ever had.
Though Senses and Spiritual Flowers are usually said to be the peak of the painter's career, both the landscapes and the figurative and abstract pictures contain pieces that are able to compete with those painted by the artists of' Der Sturm' and 'Der Blaue Reiter ' - for example the Red Composition.