Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)
Zsombor Jékely: The Museum of Applied Arts in 2013-15
curators Éva Csenkey and Miklós Gálos, and was shown to great critical acclaim in Rome. After the successful showing in the Musei Capitolini, the exhibition went on display in Budapest as well. It was accompanied by a catalogue published in three languages (Italian, Hungarian and English). The Museum’s Art Nouveau collection is of great importance. Acquisition already started on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exposition 1889 and reached its summit at the Paris Universal Exposition 1900. This work could be thanked to the director Jenő Radisics who recognised the aims of Art Nouveau artists. He primarily wanted to present the artistic results of England and France to the public, the countries seen as the cradle of modern art movements, as well as the modern artists of Germany and Scandinavia. Due to this effort, the museum obtained notable pieces, such as glassware from the Tiffany company that is in a class of its own today, the most beautiful works of the German Jugendstil, the tapestries of the Scherrebek weaving school based on the designs of Otto Eckmann as well as Danish and Swedish porcelains. Over and above universal masterpieces, the Museum of Applied Arts also purchased contemporary Hungarian artefacts year after year. The exhibition displayed over one hundred of these international and Hungarian masterpieces. In the framework of the Partage Plus project, a 360 degree virtual tour of the exhibition was also created, which can be accessed via the website of the Museum. The Bigot Pavilion 23 April 2013 - 4 January 2015 Alongside the general Art Nouveau exhibition, a truly rare ensemble in the collection of the Museum was put on display for the first time ever in 2013. The ensemble of Alexander Bigot’s monumental architectural ceramics was acquired with government funds by director Jenő Radisics at the Paris Universal Exposition 1900. Alexander Bigot’s pavilion constructed of Art Nouveau architectural sample pieces - wall revetments, fireplace frames, columns with plastic decorations, brackets, friezes - was bought entirely by the museum and was transported to Budapest after the exposition. The objects were deposited in the huge basement of the Museum of Applied Arts. The designers of the architectural ceramics were such outstanding French architects and sculptors of the period like Jules Lavirotte (1864-1924) or Paul Jouve (1878-1973). Similar pieces of architectural ceramics displayed at the exhibition can be found on façades of several Art Nouveau apartment buildings and palaces in Paris even today. Most architectural elements used in the pavilion assembled for the Paris World’s Fair were designed for two buildings by Jules Lavirotte, both still standing in the seventh district of Paris. Art from the Cloister of Clay - The Collection of the Contemporary Art Studios - International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét 27 May - 2 September 2013 ‘The cloister of clay’ is the term by which many people throughout the world, among them eminent, authoritative ceramic artists, fondly refer to the International Ceramics Studio, founded in Kecskemét nearly a generation ago. The life and work of the studio in the period 1968-2012 coincided with - and exercised a considerable influence on - the ‘renaissance’ of modern Hungarian ceramic art. 146
