Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)
Events 2007
the art historian Dr. Zoltán Gálig, Director of Szombathely Art Gallery. In 2007, too, the Hungarian Design Council's festive ceremony for the presentation of the Hungarian Design Awards was held in the Museum of Applied Arts, as was, between 8 October and 28 October, an exhibition entitled Hungarian Design Awards 2007. This show consisted of prizewinning and other outstanding works. After the awarding of the prizes at this ceremony, the critic Sándor Radnóti presented a volume by the jewellery artist Vladimír Péter on his oeuvre to date. Richly illustrated, a bilingual 100-page volume introduced the works given Awards while in his foreword Miklós Bendzsel assessed the achievements in the quarter-century since the Awards were first bestowed. Dr. Zoltán Szilárdfy - Catholic priest, college professor, art historian, and collector and expert interpreter of requisites and material mementos of religiosity during the Baroque age - completed his seventieth year in November. To mark his birthday, Balázs Semsey, of the Museum's Department of Furniture, put together a mini-exhibition in which approximately thirty pieces, the majority of them art works from the 17 th- 18 th century, provided an exact crosssection of Dr. Zoltán Szilárdfy's collection, in the meantime supplying an insight into the distinctive religious mentality of the Baroque Age. During the Fall of 2007, the Museum of Applied Arts also hosted a very prestigious art historical event, a Conference of the Comité International d'histoire de l'art (CIHA). The international conference titled "How to write art history" - National, regional or global? - was organized by the Institute for Art History of the Hungarian Academy os Sciences, and several plenary lectures as well as sections were held in the Library of the Museum of Applied Arts. Participants were also treated to a guided tour in the Esterházy-treasury exhibition. The National Association of Hungarian Creative Artists and the Hungarian Design Council had announced a national competition focused on children, who represent the common future of us all, thus strengthening the connection between generations and their living and working together. The competition called upon all those involved in the design and production of toys, articles for everyday use, clothing, etc., and those creating cultural works, to strive in the interests of making children's lives richer and more beautiful. The works awarded prizes were extraordinarily varied (toys, book illustrations, items of clothing, designs for homepages) and from them a three-day exhibition was organised in the Museum of Applied Arts. Running from 1 December until 3 December, this was entitled Children - Toys II. At the opening, a speech was given by Dr. Miklós Bendzsel, President of the Hungarian Design Council. Then the Garabonciás Historical Children's Ensemble brought to life Bruegel's painting 'Children's Games', in the music of the painter's contemporaries. During the period of the exhibition - from 3 p.m. on Sunday until 6 p.m. on Monday - by the Christmas tree, decorated by applied artists, that stood in the aula of the Museum a craft workshop operated under the direction of artists and teachers. On 1 December 2007, on the first floor of the Museum, the ethnographer Dr. Erzsébet Györgyi, President of the Áron Kiss Hungarian Toys Society, opened a selection of artefacts, placed in the 'Collectors' Showcase', entitled 'Toys from the Collection of Mariann Karlócai'. Mariann Karlócai has been collecting old toys since 1968, with the intention of creating a toy museum in Budapest, if possible in the near future. The
