Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)

Ildikó PANDÚR: The Role of Gyula Jungfer in Hungary's National Exhibition of 1885

ILDIKÓ PANDUR

THE ROLE OF GYULA JUNGFER IN HUNGARY’S NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1885

‘The doyen of Hungarian smith’s art...’ Thus wrote Aladár Edvi Illés in connection with the role of Gyula Jungfer (1841-1908) at the Paris World Exposition of 1900.' A member of the third generation of a dynasty of smiths, Gyula Jungfer set up a business on his own in Pest in 1866. Károly Pereházy,2 the greatest expert on the subject, divides the artist’s oeuvre into three periods.3 According to him, the year 1885 represented Jungfer’s highest point, the beginning of his heyday as an artist. His role in the National Exhibition staged in that

year can, therefore, be regarded as a summary of his work up until then. In connection with this, a documental photograph by György Klösz kept in the Archive of Budapest Museum of Applied Arts deserves our attention (Fig. 1J.4

The Yearbook of the Museum of Applied Arts has already featured a study dealing with Hungary’s National Universal Exhibition of 1885.5 Relying on the sources of the time in connection with its general significance for the applied arts,6 this study gave a detailed analysis of the antecedents and of

Fig. 1 The Gyula Jungfer exhibit. Hall of Industry, 1885

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