Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba
Portrait of Sándor Ziffer
circa 1908
A refreshingly candid conveyance of a man. Name, age or creed aside, the subject stares relaxedly and unconcernedly into our anonymous eyes as well as into those of his portraitist, rather like one sitting on a bench while only mildly aware of the seamless haze of strolling passerby’s and of the intermittent rustling of leaves. Though seated indoors, in full dress, on a lavish velvet-lined (perhaps) and plush canapé, the man’s posture suggests a space in time that is transient, unfixed. His off-centred position within the picture’s frame, as well as the tri-panelled rose-flecked backdrop curiously ‘crowning’ his topped head, subtly impose on the scene a questionable sense of surrealism. Nothing is seen in its entirety, save the figure’s black hat, which may be interpreted (among many ways) as an invitation into a baseless, boundless space of dreamy creation and possibility: the crimson-covered bed, a glorious thing in which the subconscious takes flight, floats in the upper left-hand corner and is only semi-exposed to the audience, somewhat like a ‘wink’; the patterned wall-paper shimmers gaily with the dancing faces of many blooming, bulbous buds, though without the proof or surety of being attached to either a floor or a ceiling; and the man himself rests on an expanse of floral reds and murky greens that also reveals no evidence of being footed on a floor, or indeed of having any ends. Though these may be details of no importance, drawing attention to their presence nevertheless sheds light on whether they have a capacity to contain more than one meaning. Their roles may truly be one-dimensional and stationary, as seemingly intended, or they may in fact be separate keys into the thoughts of Sándor Ziffer - of a man, of a human being.
