Montparnasse (1928)

He was born in Munich, the son of Albert Santrucek, an immigrant glass painter of Czech origin, and Olga Marischka. He studied at the Munich School of Applied Arts in Munich. He moved to Hungary and became a pupil of Adolf Fényes. In the summers he studied and worked at the art school in Nagybánya, and later attended the free school of János Vaszary in Budapest.

In 1926, he exhibited for the first time at the Kunsthalle, and in 1930 he had a collection exhibition at the Ernst Museum. He was a member of the Union of New Artists (UME) and the New Society of Fine Artists (KUT). Between 1928 and 1931 he visited Paris several times, where he had an exhibition of his work. After 1935, he supported himself mainly as a craftsman, and lived in Athens in 1943 and 1944, where he worked as a draughtsman and drawing teacher.

Szantrucsek sought contact with progressive Hungarian artists from the late twenties. Montparnasse (1928) was exhibited at the first exhibition of the UME, which was held in Vienna for the first time, and a catalogue was produced. The press of the time justified this by claiming that it was an attempt to provoke the conservative spirit and tastes of Hungary, hoping that what was successful abroad would not go unheard in Hungary. Szantrucsek combines cubist and expressionist stylistic features in his exhibited paintings. In the chalk drawing Montparnasse, he applies the material thickly and fatly to the ground, thus and through the narrow space he creates a sense of the mass of the houses and the feeling of enclosure. Some of the contours are thicker and give the impression of shadows, while the strong lines and the flickering windows give the composition a rhythm.