Czobel Béla .. 

This indistinct sketch was made by the Hungarian artist Béla Czobel. The scene appears to be a ladder propped against a stand of trees, or perhaps a structure of scaffolding. To unpack the meaning, we might consider the institutional context. Czobel was one of a number of Hungarian artists working in Paris in the early years of the 20th century. He became associated with the Fauvist movement, and later with German Expressionism. The expressionists were interested in images of the city, and the place of the individual in a rapidly changing urban landscape. For an artist like Czobel, the ladder might represent mobility, or the possibility of social climbing. It might also be seen as a motif of urban construction, and the rapidly changing face of the modern city. To find out more, we might consult catalogs of the Fauvist and Expressionist exhibitions in which Czobel participated. This kind of social and institutional history can help us to understand his unique artistic vision.