Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 16. (Budapest, 1997)

ÁCS Piroska: Lechner Ödön köztéri szobrának története

NOTES 1. Many papers - Nemzeti Újság, Magyarország, Reggel - reported on the meeting held in the Ernst Museum. 2. Lipót Herman: "A Lechner Ödön Társaság" (The Ödön Lechner Society) In: Pesti Napló, 10th June 1927 3. Nemzeti Újság, 10th January 1929 4. The first donation, amounting to 1000 pengő, was made by Lajos Emst. 5. A number of sites were proposed for the memorial, including among them the vicinity of the Museum of Applied Arts. There was also question of placing Lechner's statue at the end of the boulevard on the Oktogon, and of pairing it with another statue representing Szinyei Merse standing on the opposite side of the square, at the beginning of the next section of the boulevard. 6. Alajos Strobl's statue represented Jókai in his old age. The figure sitting in an armchair is wearing a trimmed Hungarian costume, his posture is comfortable, his left leg is a little stretched out. His left arm reposes on a book lying open on his thigh. His expression is smiling, his look, a little distant. On the reddish-brown granite base of the statue, the name of "the greatestdaydreamer" can be read in golden letters. The statue was inaugurated on the 21st May 1921. The plaster mouldings of the secondary figures were purchased by the City of Budapest in 1927 from the heirs of Strobl. The brassfounder Rafael Venáli was commissioned with the casting of the statue representing two girls sitting side by side and holding a book. The composition was to stand on a pedestal of heath limestone. It was first placed on the part of the Stefánia road situated near the pond of the Town Park, the on the part of the road stretching between the Town Museum and the Ajtósi Dürer row. Detailed description in: Liber Endre: Budapest szobrai és emléktáblái (Budapest's statues and memorial plates). Budapest, no year indicated, 313-317, 372-373. 7. Representatives of the Szinyei Merse Society, the Benczúr Society, the László Pál Society and the Artists' Society were present at this occasion. The introductory words of Elek Petrovics were followed by the speeches of Béla Jánszky and Károly Lyka (the latter was published by the periodical Magyar Művészet, 1929, 289-90. 8. All documents relating to the sculpture competition, kept by the Ödön Lechner Society, were integrally destroyed when the cellar of Béla Jánszky

's flat in Bercsényi street was flooded in 1945. This incident is recorded in a letter addressed on the 10th Novembre 1965 to the former secretary of the Society Ferenc Vámos and kept in the Hungarian National Gallery: Documentation Department of the National Gallery, doc. n° 16867/65. 9. The remaining participants were Lajos Bartha, Emil Berry (living in Paris), Gyula Bethlen, Károly Cser, Aladár Gárdos, Imre Görömbey, Árpád Horváth, Ottó Kalotai-Kreipel, Lajos Kubiczka, Ferenc Pásztói, Imre Szamossi and Viktor Vas(s). 10. Ybl, Ervin: Mi van a Lechner-szobor pályázatával? [What happened with the Lechner sculpturecompetition?] In: Budapesti Hírlap, 27th Nov. 1929. 11. Fülöp 0. Beck: Emlékezések (Mémoires). Ed.: Farkas, Zoltán. Budapest, 1957. Parts concerning the Lechner competition: 370-372. 12. M.

V.: A Lechner-szoborpályázat sajtóbemutatója [The press-view about the Lechner sculpture competition ] In: Nemzeti Újság, 27th Nov. 1929, 10. 13. Béla Vörös explained this fact as follows in a letter sent to Ferenc Vámos on the 8th May 1930: "I must admit that I disposed of no data whatwoever: I finally got hold of a picture published in the press when the statue was already finished." Documentation department of the Hungarian National Gallery, doc. n° 16864/65. 14. (e.a.): A Lechner Ödön szoborpályázat [The Lechner Odön sculpture competition]. In: Újság, 27th Nov. 1929, 95. 15. Károly Cser presented an other work, too, realized in collaboration with the architect Hugó Pál. 16. Magyar Művészet 1929, 635. 17. This rather short notice was due to the International Congress for Architecture to be held between the 7th and 22nd September of the same year: the statue was to be inaugurated on that occasion. 18. The list of contestants - with the number of their works - was the following: Lajos Barcza ( 1 ), Lajos Barta (1), Dezső Bokros-Birman (1), Gyula Bethlen (1), Károly Cser (3), László Csikasz (2), Béla Farkas (2), Richárd Füredi (1), Imre Görömbey (1), Árpád Horváth (1), Géza Horváth (1), László Hűvös (6), Jenő Homonnay (1), Ottó Kalotai-Kreipel (2), Jenő KörmendiFrim (2), Dezső Lányi (1), Miklós Ligeti (1), Andor Mészáros (1), József Rajky (1), Lajos Petri-Pick (2), Imre Szamossi(y) (1), János Sóvári (1), Zoltán Székessy (1), Sándor Szege (1), András Ruff (1), Szuhodovszky (1), Márton Táncsics (1), Viktor Vas(s) (2). 19. (e.a.) = Elek, Artúr: A Lechner Ödön szoborpályázat [The Lechner sculpture competition] In: Újság, 11th April 1930 (b.m.) = Benedek, Marcell: Lechner Ödön szobrai [The sculptures of Ödön Lechner]. In: Esti Kurir, 1

1th April 1930; anonymous: Lechner-szobrok pótvizsgája az Iparművészeti Múzeumban [The retake exam of the Lechner statues in the Museum of Applied Arts] In: Magyarország, 1

1th April 1930; Ybl, Ervin: A Lechner szoborpályázat csődje [The flop of the Lechner sculpture competition] In: Budapesti Hírlap, 11th April 1930. 20. Ligeti realized an excellent bust of the master in 1911. 21. Beck, Ö. Fülöp: ibid. [Mémoires], 372. We must however take the antagonistic attitude of the artist into account. The first round resulted in a fiasco for him, as he was not assigned the commission, but only received the praise of most critics of the press, so that he abstained from any further involvement. 22. The text of the speech was published in: Magyar iparművészet, 1936, 97.