Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 18. (Budapest, 1999)
Diary of events
Restoration run jointly by the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Museum was held by Katalin E. Nagy, chief restorer at the Museum of Applied Arts, and Dr. Ágnes T. Balázsy, head of the Department of Restoration. At the opening of the exhibition, entitled Rescued Art Works, '98, on June 19, Dr. Mária Ferenczy, director of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, introduced 1998 work by restorers in the Silicates Section and the Leather and Paper Section. An exhibition giving an account of the Tenth Year of the Lajos Kozma Scholarships was opened on September 1 by the art historian Tibor Wehner. San tarn, one of South Africa's largest insurance companies, has for decades organized an international children's drawing competition, which every year draws 15,000 to 20,000 entries from across the world. An exhibition of the winning works, which are selected by an international jury, visits all the countries from which they were sent. In 1997 Hungarian children were among the winners, with the result that from September 28 until October the Santam International Exhibition of Children's Drawings was on show at the Museum of Applied Arts. In an exhibition entitled Ajka Crystal, Ajka Glass Works presented its old and new products between October 2 and October 26. The works displayed were selected from collection held by the 120-year-old enterprise by Dr. Vera Varga. To mark its twelve decades in operation the factory published a colour album containing studies by Vera Varga and Frigyes Giay; this was edited by Judit Pataki. The exhibition Sana Szó Word presented the most important stages in the oeuvre so far of the well-known Finnish design artist Nanny Still. For Hungarians this was made especially important by the fashioning in glass of words belonging to the Finno-Ugric root stock of words, the common origin of the Finnish and Hungarian vocabularies. The exhibition was on display from October 16 until November 22. Staged by Dr. Vera Varga, it was opened by Gergely Prőhle, administrative state secretary at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and Rauno Anttila, director of the Cultural Policy Division of the Finnish Ministry of Culture. The Exhibition of the Life Work of the Gabriella Hajnal, Applied Artist opened on December 1 and was on display for three months. With approximately fifty woven and embroidered wall tapestries, it afforded an insight into the creative work and evolution of one of the very best contemporary textile artists and holder of the Munkácsy Prize, among other awards. At the opening the film director Károly Makk quoted the artist's own words about her work. Between December 18 and January 18, 1999 the public was able to see the material of the Silver Triennale, works by approximately eighty artists, staged for twelfth time already by the Deutsches Goldschmiedenhaus, which operates in the German town of Hanau and which has been known as a centre for goldsmith's work since the Middle Ages. Speeches at the opening were given by Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber, general secretary of the Hanau Association of Goldsmiths, and by Dr. József Takács, president of the Association of Hungarian Precious Metal Artists. To mark the 125 th anniversary of its foundation, the Museum - in conjunction with the Applied Arts Section of the National Cultural Foundation - announced a competition entitled Artefacts in the Service of Man, open to artists active in all fields of applied art. Entrants could submit high standard individual or duplicated works not more than two years old and made for everyday surroundings, use in the community, church use or simply for use as clothing. In announcing the competition special emphasis was placed on objects made for children. Entries were submitted by 138 artists, from which a nine-member jury selected, in line with the contest's stipulations, those which
