Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)

Piroska ÁCS: "These Robes Will Appear Like a Vision..."

8. Invitation card of the opening ceremony from 1938 9. Éva Mária Szabó 130 display at a highly successful ecclesiastical art exhibition in the Budapest headquarters of the Mission Society, in the company of the country's finest vestments and church treasures. At the opening of the exhibition on 10 May 1938, at 11.00 am (fig. 8), speeches were made by the founder, Reverend Mother Edith Farkas (1877-1942), Mrs Miklós Horthy, and Canon of Pécs, István Komócsy. The latter said, "Great credit must go to the Social Mission Society, in whose workshop, under the direction of a qualified craftswoman sister, the art of making liturgical robes in the elite, elevated Benedictine spirit has been revived."

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4 Bishop Ferenc Virág consecrated the vestments for church use on St Stephen's Day, 20 August 1938. It then became clear that the task had been fulfilled beyond expectations. In the words of the consultant, Prof. Antal Somogyi, "...the golden, gentle silken sheen of the ceremonial vestments and the exquisite colours of the border images are an elegant echo of the cathedral's splendid magnificence."

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5 He drew a pertinent conclusion. "Such a work is not simply the product of skill and knowledge, however great. It springs from deep appreciation of the task and sincere religious inspiration which raises the work into regions above knowledge."

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6 The designer and maker Who was the artist behind all this? Eva Mária Szabó P. (Mrs Piszer) (fig. 9), woven and printed fabric designer (Budapest, 1910 Budapest, 1997)

1' completed her studies as an artist around 1930, together with Lajos Csabai Ekes in Sándor Bortnyik's Műhely ("Workshop"), and then studied manual weaving in Munich and textile design in the school of Professor Breuhaus in Berlin. She