“Not only did we try to displace reality; reality was no longer in the object. Reality was in the painting.” Pablo Picasso

Sándor Bánszky

Bánszky was a sculptor born in Szeged. His life and artistic career were brief, yet full of twists and turns worthy of a novel. The artist first travelled to Paris in 1911, then returned to Szeged two years later. He more than likely visited the exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants, which featured numerous Cubist works, including pieces by Hungarian artists. Inspired by this new movement, Bánszky continued to create some of his sculptures in a more marketable, realistic style, but he also took great pleasure in producing Cubist works.

Both József Csáky and Sándor Bánszky were supported with a scholarship by the Municipality of Szeged while staying in Paris, but their Cubist endeavours were not met with unanimous enthusiasm. In 1914, the newspaper Délmagyarország wrote the following about the two sculptors: “Talented young men with considerable promise, who have already achieved significant success. Now, however, they have been swept up in a trend that could easily prove fatal to their future: they have become Cubist sculptors. As such, they are enjoying great success; yet Cubism itself is a deviation that can be called anything – even geometry – but not fine art.”