Philip de Laszlo: War, Pt. 1

"James Robert Dundas McEwen"
by Philip de Laszlo

"When Philip de Laszlo's naturalization as a British citizen became known in Hungary, the Budapest newspapers began to attack him, declaring that he had changed his nationality to escape serving the country of his birth. "Whatever may have moved Laszlo to take this step,' declared the 'Budapesti Hirlap,' 'The Hungarian State and the Art Corporation must realize what their duty is. He cannot remain any longer a member of the Hungarian gentry, or of the Hungarian Senate of Fine Arts. Nor should he be allowed to remain in the ranks of the prominent Hungarian artists who represent Hungarian art in the Florentine Uffizi.' 

The Austro-Hungarian Government also confiscated his money. When he went to live in England in 1907, he had left a significant fund in a Viennese bank and had used the interest for sending remittances to his family and poor relatives in Budapest, including his mother, who unhappily died without being able to see her artist son. 

Meanwhile he contributed generously  to British war charities and responded to Mr. John Lavery's public appeal that artists should paint two portraits of those serving the King at a fee of 50 pounds, which should be presented to the Artists' Benevolent Institution. He painted more and donated more than the suggested number. He also gave paintings to the Red Cross and many other organizations to help them raise funds. He signed a petition drawn up by naturalized Hungarians expressing their loyalty to the King and making offers of service.

Even so painful incidents and examples of prejudice against so-called alien enemies increased. The Royal Academy informed him that the President and Council must reject his portrait of Lord Devonport for the 1915 exhibition, since they had decided not to exhibit any works by natives of countries at war with England, whether naturalized or not. Then de Laszlo was asked to resign his honorary membership in the Royal Society of British Artists, and received a curt intimation from the Imperial Arts League that the membership of all alien enemies, including those who had been naturalized, had been suspended. An old friend wrote to him, 'It seems curious that Art should be in any way governed by war. I always hoped Art would be cosmopolitan, just as it is God-given.'

All this time de Laszlo was being watched by the police, although he did not know it. Many of the letters he had sent and those which his family wrote from Budapest, had been opened and translated. His books and correspondence were investigated, but even though the conclusion was that he had done nothing wrong, he was about to face a more devastating trial."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Portrait of a Painter" by Owen Rutter.)