Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)
Diary of Events 2003
DIARY OF EVENTS 2003 The line of temporary exhibitions started on January 15 with Éva M. Tóth 's "Entrances", a showing of animated cartoons and graphic works curated by Aliz Torday and opened by fellow graphic designer György Kemény. In addition to the nearly exclusively black and white graphics, the artist's cartoon of 8 and 1/2 minutes made in 2001 and given prizes of several film festivals was continuously projected until the close-down of the exhibition (February 15). In the accompanying publication András Wilheim undertook to assess Éva M. Tóth 's art. Columbia's ambassador to Hungary, His Excellency Belarmino Pinilla Contreras, member of the board of trustees of the Friends of the Museum of Applied Arts, deposited twelve unique pieces of his private collection in the museum. The four gilded bronze statues and the eight ceramic pieces derive from Columbia prior to the Spanish conquest and represent the advanced 15 th-16th century crafts of South America. The exhibition "Columbia to Hungary" on from 28 January to 28 February was opened by senior official of the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage Erika Koncz in the presence of the ambassador. The showing of works by the beneficiaries of the Lajos Kozma Scholarship in Handicraft, a fifteen-year-old tradition now, was staged from 25 February to 23 March, curated - just as for many years earlier - by Ágnes Fejes. Most of the 14 debuting artists presented textile works, costumes and accessories to clothing, so the exhibition was opened by textile artist Márta Simonffy, vice-president of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists. Within the French cultural season in Hungary "FranciArt", the Photo Agency Rapho (Paris) and the Institut Francais a Budapest organized the exhibition entitled Un certain Robert Doisneau at the Museum of Applied Arts on 3-30 March, to pay tribute to the French photographer who died nearly ten years earlier. The showing of some 140 photos was opened by S.E.M. Dominique de Combles de Nayves, the ambassador of France. The accompanying booklet reproduced some memorable shots of the artist besides biographical data and a study. Ex libris was originally a label to be stuck in a book with the name and/or graphic symbol of the owner. It has been reckoned with as an independent discipline of graphic art since art nouveau and there are several artists who have made lasting contribution to the genre. Dr. Hilda Horváth curated a showing of the erotic bookplates in the museum's collection of tens of thousands of bookplates under the title "sEx Libris" (Eroticism and Exlibris). The first ex libris exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts also paid tribute to the centenary of the birth of botanist Dr. Rezső Soó, the greatest Hungarian bookplate collector, who bequeathed his collection to the museum. Opened as part of the Budapest Spring Festival on 18 March by writer Tibor Gyurkovics, the show was open until 18 May. In the richly illustrated booklet of 20 pages published for the exhibition Dr. Hilda Horváth 's essay in Hungarian and German, as well as the list of exhibits compiled by Judit Pataki could be read. Vilmos Zsolnay was bom on 28 April 1828. The exhibition entitled "Vilmos Zsolnay, the
