Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)
Magda LICHNER: Early Works by Gyula Kaesz: His Designs for the Parish Church of St. Nicolas at Muraszombat /Murska Sobota
sibilities. Because of the dampness of the medieval chancel, sculptures made of plaster were out of the question, and instead of using cement to attach the marble sheeting, the parish wanted another solution.24 Kaesz came up with the proposal, which the parish accepted, that the body of the Saviour should be fashioned from wood, but that the other sculptures should be fashioned in relief using metal. This last suggestion seems to have been more advantageous from the aesthetic point of view, since it was better suited to the liturgical artefacts made earlier on. The artist insisted not only that the masonry work necessary be performed in situ on the basis of his plans, but also that the sculptural work requiring artistic execution be performed in Budapest under his personal supervision. This would have been more expensive, but would have been quicker and surer in its outcome. In the end the project was never executed. Our last information on its fate is in a letter from Gyula Kaesz dated 2 January 1932. In this we can read a short summary regarding solution of the problems, with references to plans that were enclosed. Unfortunately, these drawings are not to be found among the documents that have survived.25 In the course of the correspondence, Kaesz is obliged on a number of occasions to apologise for the lateness of the designs, referring to the weight of teaching and official duties. This was not simply excuses, since the Muraszombat project was only one of the many different strands in his life at this time. Young Hungarian designers who joined CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architec- ture Moderne), a union of architects formed in Switzerland in 1928, were introduced to the comprehensive programme promulgated by leading European architects working in the Constructivist style. The views they represented were something Kaesz found he 9. Interior of the Church of St. Nicholas at Muraszombat /Murska Sobota [Slovenia] in 2006 could identify with.26 The goals of CIAM and the principles discussed at the conferences held in Frankfurt in 1929 and Brussels in 1930 were described in Tér és Forma (Space and Form). The journal thus became the mouth-piece for followers of the ‘new architecture’. As a teacher, Gyula Kaesz represented the principles popularized in the journal, and the impact was apparent in the attitude and work of his students. These principles were articulated anew in architecture and object design - if only in mostly maquette form - at the exhibit organized in 1930 in the Museum of Applied Arts celebrating the 50th anniversary of the School of Applied Arts.27 Following the exhibit, Gyula Kaesz’s renown grew, and the increasing number of commissions he received and the time he spent teaching probably explain in part why the Holy Tomb at Muraszombat was never completed. 129
