Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 20. (Budapest, 2001)

Diary of events 2000

DIARY OF EVENTS 2000 True to its traditions, the Museum of Applied Arts welcomed its visitors with a wide variety of exhibitions in the year 2000. The events included contemporary and historical surveys alike, with exhibits either from the museum's own collections or belonging to external sources. The exhibition opening the season was a display reviewing works by awardees of the László Moholy-Nagy Design Scholarship, a short (less than a week long) annual event regularly held for more than ten years now. The exhibit, which was jointly sponsored by the Undersecretariat for Research & Development of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage and the Museum of Applied Arts, was ceremonially opened by Dr. József Pálinkás, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education. Held in the museum is a singularly rich collection of works by Leó Pantocsek, the Hungarian researcher who played a pioneering role in experimentation with iridising and lustring, techniques that give glassware surfaces a silky or metallic sheen, while another internationally noted collection in the museum's possession comprises pieces made by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Based on these two groups of artifacts, Vera Varga's exhibition entitled Glass and Brilliancy was open between 21 March and 1 October. In order to provide the visitor with as comprehensive a picture of the genre as possible, these two major sets of glass objects were supplemented with all other glassware in the museum's collection, with material borrowed from the Prague Museum of Applied Arts, from the Ferenc Nádasdy Museum of Sárvár, and from the Miksa Roth Museum, as well as pieces made by a number of contemporary Hungarian artists. The event was opened by Academician Dr. Ernő Marosi. Launched with the exhibition was Vera Varga's book of the same title edited by Judit Pataki and published in English as well as Hungarian by the Foundation for the Support of the Museum of Applied Arts (and with considerable help from the company Prímagáz). It was as part of the Millenary Celebrations that the exhibition Preservers of our HeritageHomage to the Donation Makers was opened on 12 May to continue welcoming visitors until January of 2001. Selected by Hilda Horváth from pieces made by Hungarian applied arts in the past five hundred years, the show featured nearly three hundred pieces that were gifts once received by the museum from generous donors. Miklós Mojzer, Director General of the Museum of Fine Arts opened the event; on the same occasion was launched Hilda Horváth 's Treasures of the Applied Arts in Hungary, a book issued by the publishing house Athenaeum 2000, a work also dedicated to the memory of donation makers. Staged by Ágnes Fejes and opened by Mrs. Ferenc Keszthelyi, Director of Advisory Office of Fine and Applied Arts, the exhibition featuring works made by recipients of the Lajos Kozma scholarship for artist-craftsmen in the year 1999 was open from 19 May to 4 June. A large-scale event featuring cards of artistic quality by the old Hungarian masters of graphic arts was put on by Hilda Horváth, on behalf of the Hungária Picture Post Card Association