Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)
Zsombor Jékely: The Museum of Applied Arts in 2013-15
Textile— Exhibition Organized from the Material of the 4th Triennial of Textile Art 20 December 2013 - 2 February 2014 It is a long-standing tradition that the Museum of Applied Arts presents a large selection of each Triennial of Textile Art, organized and held at Szombathely. The objects filled the ground floor gallery of the Museum, giving and overview of contemporary textile art. Bolder than Painting - Modem Commercial Posters in Hungary, 1924-42 25 April - 31 August 2014 The most successful exhibition of 2014 was organized in cooperation of the National Széchényi Library. It presented an overview of modern Hungarian commercial posters created in the interwar period. The exhibition showed the best 102 large posters of the period, supplemented by a selection of small prints and actual objects from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and other museums. The exhibition, which was first shown in Valencia and Seville (Spain) in 2009, was only on view in Hungary at this occasion. Such a large- scale selection of posters and related material from the most creative period of Hungarian commercial design was never before shown in Hungary. The chief curator of the exhibition was Katalin Bakos, whose work was helped by colleagues from the Museum of Applied Arts and the National Széchényi Library: Dóra Reichart and Anikó Katona, respectively. The colourful installation of the exhibition was designed by Tibor Somlai. (Fig. 4) From the mid-1920s a completely new style appeared in posters in Budapest. The dream-world of Art Nouveau disappeared, the funny narrative posters, till then the favourites of the audience, fell into oblivion. The air of modernity prevailed, and publicity focused on products and services that were the results of the development of technology and civilization in the 20th century, and served the comforts of modern city life. The electric bulb, the radio, the radio valve, several electricity-powered or gas-operated appliances, tires, canned food and fountain pens all appeared in the posters. The advertising of old articles - such as products of the tobacco industry, fashion articles, food, periodicals - was also adapted to the new form of advertising called to life by the need of adequate presentation of the new products. Lajos Kassák, Sándor Bortnyik and Róbert Berény, all leading figures of the avant-garde movement in Hungary in the early 20th century, who were forced into emigration in 1919-20 due to their progressive political commitment, played an important part in the renewal of Hungarian commercial graphics. They continued their artistic experiments in Vienna and in Berlin, and obtained thorough knowledge of the international trends. The work of Kassák and Bortnyik became part of the international constructivist movement. In 1930, the first exhibition of the Society of Hungarian Book and Advertisement Artists [Magyar Könyv- és Reklámművészek Társasága] was organized in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts. The new graphic design shown here turned the attention of the recipient deliberately towards the message of the commercial posters, making use of optical rules. It does not relate a story, does not show details, but while making use of the aesthetic potentials of abstract art, it relies on elementary effects, simple colour patches and sharp contours. The revolutionarily new technique of the 148
