DLA123-0176 Translation of press cuttings from a Spanish agency
1. Newspaper: ABC
MADRID, IN THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
THEIR MAJESTIES WITH THE EMINENT ENGLISH ARTIST LASZLO AND HIS WIFE AT THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION OF HIS PAINTINGS
2.
Their Majesties during the visit paid yesterday to the Exhibition of portraits by the Hungarian painter Laszlo at the Palace of Libraries and Museums.
3.
Laszló’s portrait in oils of His Majesty the King Alfonso XIII, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art.
4.
Laszló’s oil portrait of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art.
5.
Newspaper: LA NACION
Laszló’s portrait in oils of the Queen Mother María Cristina.
6.
Newspaper: LA NACION
Laszló’s portrait in oils of the Prime Minister, Miguel Primo de Rivera.
7.
Our Famous Guest
The artist Laszló, a man of the world
The Hungarian artist, Laszló, English by nationalisation, is exhibiting, in the Museum of Modern Art, a series of portraits, the majority of them completed during his brief stay in Madrid. He is a well-known painter in the higher echelons of almost every nation.
From 1890 he painted several genre pictures: a working family at the door of a house; the interior of a tavern, where people chat in an animated fashion with the pretty waitress serving the “bocks” by the half dozen; an old man in an autumnal landscape: “Fallen Leaves”.
But from the start of his career he preferred portraiture, and put on canvas the features of a hundred famous personalities of his time: the Prince and Augusta Victoria, Cardinal Rampolla, Leo XIII, the Emperor Franz Joseph, Kubelik, King Charles of Portugal, King Edward of England, Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser William II, the Caraman Chimay, Lord Northcliffe (a good portrait!), Admiral Togo and Admiral Beatty, Mussolini,... The King and Queen of Spain were painted by this very artist in 1910; as well at that time Queen María Cristina. Now he has returned to portray Their Majesties and their distinguished children, the Prime Minister, Don Mariano Benlliure and other eminent Spanish people.
A direct descendant of Lenbach, the portrait painter of Bismarck, of Moltke, of Wagner. Bearing similarities to the paintings of the Kaulbachs and of Sargent, he is today one of the painters of his kind, if not the best.
What kind of painter?
When Joaquín Sorolla was painting the portrait of a lady of high society, would say: “ I’ve almost finished: all I need to do now is touch her with a powder puff.
As there are painters who use a thick brush, there are those who use a powder puff. Perhaps the artist, Lazslo, has no rival in this. He’s unrivalled because he maintains his art, without extraneous embellishments.
László, above all excels in execution with his great talent. He draws a lot and succeeds in capturing the likeness with three features drawn precisely. The line which captures the mouth of Sr. Benlliure is a good example of this,
His elegance and diction are those of a perfect man of the world. The man of the world uses courtesy, and even courtly grace, without falling [loss]; with ease and simplicity at every point; he also knows how to dress his sitter well without ostentation and for his sitter to be distinguished without the excess of useless luxury or showiness; he can equally avoid severity without it appearing a flaw, but rather the opposite, something inappropriate.
There is absolutely no reason for Spain to envy an artist of such qualities; in the ranks of distinguished portrait painters Spain has people like Anselmo Miguel Nieto, Sotomayor, López Mezquita, Benedito, who can hold their own against László with the traditional and everyday picturesqueness of Spain, - but in art there are no frontiers. Let us greet and praise courteously and justly this illustrious guest who has been able to leave with us such a superb visiting card.
[The two paras below the pictures are from another article]
8.
Art notes
The King and Queen open the Laszlo Exhibition
At noon today an exhibition of the paintings of the Hungarian artist Laszlo was opened in the Salon of the Museum of Modern Art. During his stay in Spain he has painted several portraits of the Spanish Royal Family and of distinguished ladies and well-known people.
The opening was attended by King Alfonso, Queen Victoria and Queen (Mother) María Cristina as well as many members of the aristocracy and of the diplomatic corps. Their Majesties took their time viewing the exhibition and praised it highly.
The Hungarian painter Laszlo, a nationalized Englishman, shows himself an accomplished portrait painter in his works. We can accord him a prominent position among the group of painters which we could call aristocratic, as regards the elegance of his drawing and the refined hues of his palette.A truthful portraitist, he is able to transfer to the canvas with great precision and success the features of his sitters, who are always placed gracefully or in a distinguished pose. He outlines their features in minute details and depicts them in fitting tones. His paintings suit an elegant drawing room. Among those he exhibits are portraits of Queen Victoria and Queen [Mother] María Cristina and the Princesses Beatriz and Cristina; there are others of the King, the Prince of Asturias, Princes Jaime, Juan and Gonzalo, Princess Beatrice of England, the sculpture Benlliure, etc.
The Marquis of Montesa, Juan de la Cierva, the deputy director, Mr. Hidalgo de Caviedes attended the Opening on behalf of the Board of the Museum of Modern Art.
9.
Newspaper: LA NACION
A GREAT ENGLISH ARTIST
The Laszló Exhibition opens at the Museum of Modern Art
Yesterday in the exhibition room of the Museum of Modern Art the opening took place of the Exhibition of the paintings of the distinguished English painter Laszló.
The opening was honoured by the presence of Their Majesties King Alfonso and Queen Victoria and Queen (Mother) María Cristina, accompanied by the Duke of Miranda, the Duchess San Carlos and Miss de Heredia, respectively, and Princess Isabel, with her lady-in-waiting Miss Juana Bertrán de Lis.
The Minister of Education, Mr. Callejo, the Prince and Princess of Hohenlohe, the French Ambassador, Count de Peretti de la Rocca, the English Ambassador and his wife, the Marquis and Marchioness of Bendaña and other distinguished people also attended.
The great artist exhibits two portraits of His Majesty the King, half-length, in uniform and a head and shoulders painting which he gave to the Monarch; portraits of the Queen Mother María Cristina, the Princesses Beatriz and María Cristina, the Prince of Asturias, the Princes Jaime, Juan and Gonzalo, General Primo de Rivera, etc., etc.
Although we intend to give a critical appreciation of this great painter, we have to say that all his paintings are greatly to be admired; some of them, like the portraits of the Sovereign and the Marquis of Estella, portray such a surprising likeness and are proof that the artist is a master of colour and of an astonishing technique.
The Laszló Exhibition is a true artistic event …
10.
The Laszló Exhibition
An original note of royal deference was made towards the artist at the opening of the Exhibition of portraits of the eminent painter Philips Alejo de Laszlo, in the exhibition salon of the Palace of Libraries and Museums.
Although the opening was arranged for noon, Their Majesties arrived at the salon an hour earlier. Only the artist was there and he received the illustrious guests and showed them his wonderful paintings.The royal visit took so much time that it lasted almost until the hour indicated on the invitations.
At that hour the people who arrived included the Minister of Education, the Director of Fine Arts, the ambassadors to England and France, and a significant and select group of the aristocracy as well as many artists, including Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz Echagüe, Garnelo, Vázquez Díaz and Esteve.
* * *
László is the painter of royalty; to his wonderful paint brush we owe the magnificent and well-known portrait of His Holiness Leo XIII, the most elegant portrait of Queen Alexandra of England and that of William II of Germany. He has also painted Don Luis of Portugal, Cardinal Rampolla, the Prince of Hohenlohe and President Roosevelt; each of these portraits is a complete and definitive work of art, because the wonderful thing about this artist is his consistency of quality at the highest standard of art, truth and execution.
Few artists would withstand the challenge of being the portraitist of the great personalities on this earth, being the immortaliser of features so universally recognized, that they must be portrayed faithfully on the canvas, not just as a momentary vision, but as an essential truth, both characteristic and universal. The artist does this by maintaining at the age of 58, such an independence of manner, such a marvellous freedom of style, such an abundance of elegance, such a superb facility, and, above all, such a strong sense of personality that it is evident in its force, variety and distinction in each of his paintings.
His birth in Hungary, country of light, gave him a vision clear, bright, optimistic and pure in colour; his studies with Lefevre and Benjamin Constant, the refined concept of artistic dignity; his residence in England, his nationalization, filled him with that fine artistic sense, of serenity, of controlled and wholesome balance, which makes of modern-day English painting something special, commendable, elegant, of exquisite taste, thanks to English art which is free of snobbery and of nervous restlessness, from which all schools of art suffer. His method acts as a counterweight and is a filter which puts a stop to excesses which have nothing to do with positive art and instead he allows his aesthetic sense to give it back, infused with British dignity and calm.
Laszló has hung twenty-three portraits in his Exhibition: of those, only two were painted in Paris; all the others were completed during his stay in Spain, and such a big number gives one an idea of such a confident painter, so versatile, in such complete control, who without any preliminary sketches, without using charcoal, he tackles the painting with his paintbrush, sketching, of course, in colour.
His enthusiasm for the the most difficult art of painting children, which he already demonstrated in”Breakfast”and “Portrait of my Son”, is reflected in this exhibition in the portraits of the children of the Royal Family; dealing with the refined and aristocratic faces of princes, and their smooth and rosy complexions, their pure and lucid eyes, the artist seems to infantilize them too; the colour is heightened and the usual strong manner, seems to soften; the finishing touches become more subtle, to the point of contributing two exquisite jewels to a museum in the portraits of Princes Juan and Gonzalo, perhaps the most sensitive portraits of the Exhibition.
The portraits of Princesses Beatriz and Cristina are supreme models; we have only to examine them up close to to realize what the artist’s confidence, the fullness and agility of his brushwork have achieved, the paintwork always so fluid and agile. All this has constituted the effect of an engaging calm, a gracious dignity, of a strict beauty in the most handsome figures, and how this dignity in no way challenges the clear and lively use of colour. In contrast we find the portraits of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, wearing a black mantilla, entirely straightforward, nothing more. It seems that the artist based all his magnificent effect of the painting in the contrast of the black of the tulle with the golden hair with the light colour of the Queen’s complexion. Besides the simplicity of the contrast and its masterly technique is the surprising impact of the delightful likeness of the portrait.
There is another very subtle contrast in the portrait in which the King appears in a Hussars uniform, a uniform which would definitely please an Hungarian artist, but which holds the challenge of all the colour, the excessive sheen of the gold. Laszló, without being overdramatic, seeing and painting the truth with sincerity, has been able to portray the head of the sitter in all its importance, superbly highlighted. Another portrait of the King, as a civilian, is wonderfully simple and of a character and force both spiritual and surprising.
The portrait of General Primo de Rivera is intentionally rough-hewn in form and through it, the artist communicates a truth of his sitter’s character; it seems as if the artist externally is portraying elements of his subject’s character, and this also occurs in the portrait of the sculptor Benlluire: there is in it such a transparent luminosity of colour, of the movement of the figure, a serenity, a clarity of the atmosphere, which distances it from the world around. All this, independent of the figure portrayed, tells us that it is a homage to an artist.
HANS
11.
The László Exhibition.
After a few days travel in Andalucia I have returned to Madrid and have been able to see the Exhibition of the famous painter Philip László in the Salon of the Museum of Modern Art. Portraits of our King and Queen, of our Princes and Princesses and of relevant dignitaries. His is a fluid skill, of elegance because of the elegant sitters that he paints, rather than the strength and construction of his painting. Philip László, born Hungarian, naturalized English, the accredited portraitist of Europe’s Royal Houses. In his country of adoption he has studied the portrait painters of the 18th century, to hone his style. Influenced by Velázquez and Goya, his painting reminds us of the waltzes of Vienna, with all due respect, let it be said.
When we look at the brushstrokes of Zuloaga, of Sotomayor, Benedito or López Mezquita, László’s paintings cannot captivate us, despite the guaranteed likenesses with which he tries to convince us.
Angel VEGUE Y GOLDONI
12.
Newspaper: ABC MADRID
Art and Artists
The László Exhibition.
Yesterday morning in the Salon of Exhibitions of the Museum of Modern Art the Opening of the Exhibition of the works of the eminent English artist László took place.
It was attended by their Majesties, King Alfonso and Queen Victoria and Queen Maria Cristina, accompanied by the Duke of Miranda, the Duchess of San Carlos and Miss de Heredia, and the Infanta Isabel, with her lady in waiting Miss Juanita Bertrán
Their Majesties and Her Highness studied the works exhibited slowly. They were all portraits.
Among them figured two of His Majesty the King, half body in the uniform of the Hussars, and the Princess and a bust which the monarch is donating to General Primo de Rivera,
There are three portraits of the beautiful Princesses Beatrix and María Cristina, where the great artist has reflected the characteristic features of the enchanting daughters of the monarchs, with an astonishing faithfulness.
The Monarch gave great praise to a portrait of the famous Benuillre and another of the President of Council, the Marquis of Estella.
In both, Mr. László displays his exquisite observation, by presenting the sitters as they are and using colour in a most marvellous way.
Other portraits, which also pleased the Royals, were the Prince of Asturias, the Princes D. Jaime, Don Juan and D. Gonzalo; the ambassador of England, Mr. Rumbold, and his daughter.
A splendid portrait of Her Majesty Doña Victoria, whose beautiful figure is enhanced by the Spanish black mantilla is a triumph.
The Exhibition includes a portrait of Her Majesty Doña María Cristina, whom László painted in 1910.
Their Majesties and Her Highness stayed at the Exhibition for a long time, and when they were saying goodbye they congratulated Mr László on his portraits most warmly.
Those who came to the Exhibition included: the Minister of Education, Sr. Callejo; the Prince and Princess of Hohenlohe, the French Ambassador, Count of Pereti de la Rocca; the Ambassador of England and Lady Rumbold; the Marquesses of Bendaña, D, Luis de Asúa, Mr & Mrs Moreno Carbonero, Benedito, Alvarez de Sotomayor, conde de Montseny, don Gabriel Borrás, D. Florestán Aguilar and his wife, the well-known Polish artist Miss Margarita Haussmann, the Marquis and Marchioness of Santa Cruz, D. Raimundo Fernández Villaverde and many ladies of the aristocracy.
13.
One of the great masters of the portrait
THE LASZLO EXHIBITION
On the ground floor of the Museum of Modern Art the Exhibition has opened of the portraits of the Hungarian painter Laszlo (today a nationalized Englishman), with the intention of showing the public the latest portraits such an eminent artist has done of the Spanish Royal Family.
In the Exhibition two portraits of the King and an exquisite one of Queen Victoria wearing a black mantilla can be admired, as well as one each of Their Majesties’ children, another of Queen María Cristina, of General Primo de Rivera, Mariano Benlliure, the Princess of Hohenlohe, the Count del Grove and the present English Ambassadors in Madrid.
Every portrait enjoys a generous palette, both comfortable and masterly in execution, within the truest objectivity – the likenesses astonishing – all the colouristic emotion of a virtuoso of light and colour.
These virtuoso talents, of such superb skill, are evident in Laszlo’s portraits of the King (in his Hussar uniform), of the Marquis de Estella, of Benlliure and of the Prince of Asturias.
In the canvases of the Princesses Cristina and Beatriz the idealised beauty of the sitters is completed with enthusiasm and a palette of subtle lighting. The same occurs in the very beautiful portrait of our Sovereign Queen, wearing a black Spanish mantilla. Her extreme beauty is given a serious and moving interpretation.
The Laszlo Exhibition is clearly the artistic event of this Spring, since he enjoys in Europe – and therefore world-wide – the reputation of being the established master of the portrait.
It has been a success that the few lovers of painting in Spain can know such an eminent artist as Laszlo.
F. LEAL.
14.
Newspaper: Informaciones
The László Exhibition.
We report the visit paid yesterday of Their Majesties to the Exhibition of the works of the eminent English artist Mr. László, which is exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art. This Exhibition is very interesting. There are two portraits of our Sovereign, one of General Primo de Rivera, three of the Infantas Beatriz and Cristina, and others of the Infantes Don Jaime, Don Juan and Don Gonzalo; also of the Marquis of Estella and of the eminent sculptor, Benlluire;, of the English Ambassador, mr. Rumbold, and other dignitaries, all equally admirable.There is also a magnificent portrait of Queen Doña Victoria, wearing the Spanish mantilla, and another of Doña María Cristina, which László painted in 1910.
This celebrated artist received many congratulations yesterday.
15.
Newspaper: EL DEBATE
The Royal Household [column. Only the first sentence below relates to the Exhibition]
Their Majesties and the King’s distinguished mother, Queen Cristina, were at the National Library today for the opening of the Laszló Exhibition.
On his return to the Palace the King received …
16.
Newspaper: ABC MADRID, 12 May 1927
Art and Artists [column]
The László Exhibition
At noon today at the Museum of Modern Art (in the Palace of the Library), the opening took place of the Exhibition of the paintings which the illustrious Hungarian artist (nationalized English), P.A. de László, has painted recently during his stay in Madrid.
The Exhibition will be open until the 16th of this month.
17.
Newspaper: EL DEBATE MADRID, 11 May 1927
The Lazló Exhibition
In the Exhibition salon of the Palace of Libraries and Museums an Exhibition will open at noon tomorrow of the exquisite pictures painted by the eminent artist Lazló during his stay in Madrid. Among them are some very interesting portraits of the Royal Family.
18.
Their Majesties at the opening of the portraits painted by the famous English artist Mr. Laszlo. He is accompanied by his wife.
19
The artistic life [column]
AN EXCEPTIONAL PORTRAIT
The Exhibition of the portraits of the Royal Family has lasted three days of works of the eminent artist, László,
on behalf of the President of the Council and other distinguished people at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
All the qualities of such an experienced painter and English portrait painter of the grand style, which manifest themselves so vigorously in László’s work, have not been able to disguise before our eyes the terrible weakness of the colours of the palette of the great court portraitist. But the portrait of Mariano Benlliure, which was hanging in the corner on the left of the wall facing the Salon, shows such extraordinary qualities of an ordinary portrait-painter, that’s to say, alien to any kind of fitting spirit, appropriate to utmost importance and consequence. Mariano Benlliure, viewed sideways before some marble he is working on, and his face turned slightly towards the viewer. The surprise was so great that after seeing the numerous and impressive paintings exhibited in the Salon for the Museum, it was necessary to look again and again at this portrait of Benlliure to be convinced that the same László, who had painted the portrait of Queen Maria Cristina, stunning in its accomplishment and even in the exceptional colouring, which we have mentioned before, we find this of Benlliure, so simply and basically conceived; of such youthful feeling and workmanship and of such a happy use of colour as to completely avoid the deficiencies of the palette covered by the adjective of ‘weakness’ as previously applied. The painting seems to succeed in a marvellous youthfulness, very far from that austerity that anti-aesthetic wisdom which is accompanied by excessive mastery of a laborious maturity.
The sanguine note of Benlliure’s face is of an absolutely human vitality and confirms, like all the lines that circumscribe it, the spirit of the sitter. In the overhead light of Benlliure’s workshop where the portrait is painted, some reliefs on grey backgrounds are admirably contrasted by the delicate yellowish tone of the sculptor’s smock. Perhaps we perceive slight distractions in the hands, but what a configuration of happy successes and happy outcomes and lovely, achieves this moving portrait in its ease, its reality and simplicity! An independent critic who with great difficulty manages to silence the temptation to disrespect, which all artistic personalities in some way official and established inspire and even deserve to some extent, renounces here all his rights and freedoms before this portrait of Benlliure. And bear in mind that over all the technical skills there shines the power of the idea which allows the artist to create in his work a living reflection of human life. On the other hand we should not deny, in the meeting of happy circumstances which has produced this portrait, that the command of his profession as an artist has been the first circumstance, revealing that it is so full and civilized in its artistic capacity. Painting dependent on the crazy provocation of the young prevents the critic shouting out at every moment and at every idiocy of artistic extravagance: Just go and draw and model, and when you know something of these things you will be worthy of being talked about! Therefore, let us bow before the complete understanding of how to paint which has made this portrait so luminous and alive.
SMDL
05/02/2025
It shows such extraordinary qualities as a vulgar portraitist, that is, foreign to any kind of protocol spirit, that it reaches the category of an event of maximum importance and exemplarity.
which formula of happy successes and graceful youthful solutions, that of this portrait is moving for its reality and its simplicity.