Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 11. (Budapest, 1991)

STURCZ János: Maróti Géza pályaműve a Rockefeller Centerhez

wakeful dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece into sleep /Orph. Ar. 943-1008/ and distracted it while the Argo went into the water. /Val. Flacc. 1.187/ 38. L. Bunuel: Utolsó leheletem (My Last Breath), Budapest, 1989 p.76 39. Two equivalence of motifs can be detected in their legends. The first is that Siegfried also tried to imitate the songs of the birds, and, after drinking dragon's blood, he was able to understand them. The other is that both of them were fighting the dragon for a golden symbol: Siegfried for the Ring and Orpheus for the Golden Fleece. /However, the German hero fought with weapons whereas the Hellene fought with his lute./ 40. This is indicated by the emblems of Washington and London above their heads, which are similar to plans for the ideal city or the illustrations of the Heavenly Jerusalem. /In the last period of his life, Maróti was often dealt with the question of the ideal city and the lost city of Atlantis. The reconstruction plan of the latter one shows the influence of Diirer's plans of the ideal city./ In the contrast of the new and the old city, the water of the spring /Life/ and the fire of Walhala /Death/ creates a pair exhibiting symbolic antagonism. 41. The figure of Wagner is justly alluded to in the company of his beloved Beethoven, for he belongs to the romantic, titanic type of artist; he is also more than a mere artist, there was a whole sect who respected him as founder, god and prelate in one person. In his first period, he was the composer of the public, and just like Orpheus's, his music showed Dionysian features. As a musician-poct-architect-stage designer, he wanted to create a universe of his own — in visual art, Maróti is the follower of the Gesamtkunstwerk trends founded by Wagner. /All of Maróti's appreciators, including K. Lyka, has stressed his talent and skills in all fields of art./ His other important characteristic, the free exchange and mixing of legends and myths, also originates from Wagner. It was actually Wagner's influence that turned symbolism towards music and mythology, and Maróti could not get away from this influence. 42. Closed eyes, ecstatic expression of the face, loneliness, being close to nature, which is symbolized by the presence of animals. /See W.Hofmann, cited above, p.130 and on./ 43. The Egyptian way of illustration was fairly popular in the American Art Deco /see the Chrysler Building/, as well as on mass products /such as jewels decorated with Nophretete heads/ and in mass communication /see for example the first film about Cleopatra from 1934, with excellent Art Deco costumes by Cécile B. de Mille/. In the case of Maróti, the precedents of this type of illustration together with other types of archaism - can be detected on his reliefs in Cranbrook School. 44. On classical illustrations, Orpheus is often surmounted by an eagle with spread wings, representing the divine power. On one of his preparatory sketches, Maróti followed this model; it was changed for the burning Walhala only later. 45. Though the space of scattered stars around him also recalls the romantic commonplaces of loneliness and the height of the peak. 46. Since romanticism, the rock motif is the symbol of the tragic loneliness of geniuses, /see for example CD. Friedrich: Wanderer Beyond the Sea of Fog, c. 1818; FM. Brown: Manfred on the Peak of the Jungfrau, 1841; R. Rude: Napoleon Awakes to Immortality, 1847; J. Martin: The Last Human, 1849; P. Delaroche: Napoleon on the Island of St. Helena, 1852, J.E. Millais: J. Ruskin, 1853-54, A. Rodin: The Thinker, 1879-1900/ It is not by chance that Prometheus, the representative of divine intelligence towards people, appears here, i.e. on a picture symbolizing electric information conveying; Maróti has concealed his attributes in other parts of the picture as well. /An example is the rock below the figure of Latent State and the chain on the right foot of The Thinker./ 47. The two heroes were chosen to be among the most frequently illustrated figures of symbolism and Art Nouveau at the turn of the century, that is, when Maróti was still preparing to be an artist. Orpheus became the symbol of love, the tragic nature of people's, and especially poets', fortune and the invincibility of artistic creativity in the 1890s, first of all in French and Belgian symbolism. /See Moreau, 1865; Delville, 1893; Redon, 1913-16; without date, Ferenc Helbing, c.1904. At the time of Maróti's picture, i.e. between 1920 and 1940, Orpheus regained his popularity, especially in literature. /Rilke: Orpheus Sonnets, 1923; Cocteau: Orpheus 1991; and see also the works of Gide, Anouilh, Göll,

and Jouve./ The closest analogy in American art is the Orpheus' Well by C. Milles /1838/, which stands in the same garden at Cranbrook School, /picture 21/ Maróti is likely to have been inspired by the allegories of music, poetry and arts that present figures playing the lute. By the turn of the century, these allegories were commonplaces. /See for example, Rosetti: La Ghirlandata, 1873; Delville: Parsifal, 1880; G.F.Watts: Hope, 1885; A.Osbert: An Anthem to Sea, 1893; M.Enckell: Imagination, 1895; E. Bernard: The Poet, without date; KJimt: Musica I., 1895; Music, a litography from 1901; Poetry on the Beethoven frieze, 1902. They can