BORTNYIK, Sándor
(1893, Marosvásárhely - 1976, Budapest)

The New Eve

1924
Oil on canvas, 49 x 39 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

In The New Eve, painted by Sándor Bortnyik in 1924, the motifs of Constructivist geometrical space arrangement, of Bauhaus functionalism, and of the allegorical approach of the Italian Metaphysical painters combine to form an effective mixture. However, by perfectly blending these borrowed agents, Bortnyik created individual forms and developed a very personal style. He gave a special interpretation to the modern idea of women. In The New Eve, a female figure composed of schematic geometrical forms stands on a high platform in a highly abstracted space; below her there are the two men in fierce fight for the "eternal woman". The tall building in functionalist Bauhaus-style and the geometrical order of pillars together evoke the concept of eternity. The portrait exults the industrialization which took place during the 1920s, while at the same time it conveys the painter's doubts, concealed by his ironic treatment of his theme.


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