Proust: Madame Verdurin 1995

Maria Bozoky made this watercolor painting, Proust: Madame Verdurin, sometime during her career. The image depicts a character from Marcel Proust's novel "In Search of Lost Time." Bozoky, who was Hungarian, made this painting at a time in the mid to late twentieth century when institutions of art history, such as museums and universities, were starting to broaden their perspectives on whose stories get told in art. In earlier eras, it was more common for the artistic establishment to focus almost exclusively on the Western world, with only occasional forays outside of it. It's therefore interesting to consider her choice of subject. The novel itself can be interpreted as a critique of the Belle Epoque, and Bozoky's painting might be seen as a commentary on the old order in Europe. Looking at the circumstances in which art is made helps us to understand its meaning more fully. To study this painting in greater depth, one might explore the cultural exchange between Hungary and France, or look into the history of literary illustration.