Fruit Basket (1935)

In the 19th century, the Schossberger family were one of the richest merchants in Pest, and they built the Turai Castle, which was completed in 1883 and was known as the "Little Opera House" because of its neo-Renaissance style. Klára Schossberger (Clarisse) studied art with Sándor Bihari, Pál Szinyei-Merse, Lajos Deák-Ébner and Adolf Fényes at the Szolnok School. She then became a student at the Julian Academy in Paris. She then worked and opened here studio in Berlin. In 1924 she married Sir Basil Tangye from Birmingham. They did not return to Hungary until 1927, but Schossberger had been exhibiting her work since 1911. In 1926 and 1930 she had exhibitions at the Ernst Museum, in 1932 at the Frankel Salon and in 1936 at the Tamás Gallery. She and her husband then moved to England. She also exhibited in Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin and Barcelona. Her works are preserved in museums in Hungary and abroad.

Klára Schossberger was a colourful, cheerful and versatile artist, working in almost every genre of painting. Her Fruit Basket was included in a collective exhibition at the Tamás Gallery in 1936, which was unanimously praised by critics. The mid-1930s saw a turning point in her oeuvre, as the Impressionist-Naturalist period was replaced by a more colourful Post-Impressionist one. The enamel effect of the Fruit Basket, with its bright, hidden fires, its bluish-brown colours, the vigour of its drawing and its generous shaping, reminds us of the still lifes of Ödön Márffy.