Gyula Derkovits Fonds

The collection of documents relating to the art of Gyula Derkovits (1894-1934) is rather diverse: manuscripts, printed materials, photographs, personal papers and relics provide an insight into the artist’s life and oeuvre. Among the manuscripts, some of Derkovits’s letters and a list of his paintings, drawings and etchings are of particular significance, as is the artist’s widow’s correspondence about him with others. Some of the letters preserved in the artist’s archives relate to the purchase of artworks (e.g. a handwritten letter from Ferenc Hatvany and a letter of thanks by Elek Petrovics for the Dózsa woodcut series). The documents also contain written remembrances of Gyula Derkovits’s childhood, as well as typed manuscripts of his poetry, which reveal a lesser known side of the artist. Among the printed material, one finds catalogues, invitations, exhibition posters, lists of works and exhibition plans documenting Derkovits’s career path. With regards to the history of how Gyula Derkovits’s art was received through the decades, the essays and studies (by Lajos Kassák, Zoltán Farkas, Éva Körner, Lajos Vayer, Zoltán Székely) published during his lifetime and after his death, as well as the press releases found in the material, are of notable importance. These written sources are supplemented by photographic documentation; in addition to some personal photographs, reproductions of works and photo documentation of exhibitions (such as the interior of the artist’s solo exhibition in Amsterdam in 1961) also comprise part of the fonds.

In addition to prizes, awards and certificates, the Derkovits estate also includes some relics. Next to the tools he used for creating his graphic art, we also find two boxes preserving his paint bottles and his collection of shells used as paint mixing bowls.