Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 32. (Budapest, 2018)

Edit DARABOS: Blomstermarmor, klistermarmor. Modern Danish endpapers in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts

In a letter dated 13 January 1898 to Pietro Krohn, the director of the Copenhagen Museum of Applied Arts, Radisics brought up Kyster while relating his experiences on his travels in northern Europe and the preparations for the exhibition of modern (industrial) art in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts. He asked Krohn for assistance in presenting the works of Danish artists—in particular bindings made by the Danish Book-craft Society, Forening for Boghaandv<erk.'7 He also informed his colleague that Kyster’s papers had been a huge success. Possibly he was referring to the reception of Kyster papers in Stockholm or perhaps the response of a narrow circle in Budapest, as the papers did not debut publicly until the spring of 1898, when ten of them were shown in the exhibition A modern művészet (Modern Art) in the Museum of Applied Arts. Krohn replied that, although bindings by Forening for Boghaandvxrk were on exhibit elsewhere, a dozen works could be sent. In the end, only fourteen books arrived from the society, presumably for the reasons given by Krohn: newer bindings were on display in other exhibitions.18 A comparison of records suggests that several bindings sent by Forening for Boghaand- vxrk had been part of the material presented at the 1894 Paris exposition.19 Writing in the association’s name, Frederik Hen- driksen20 sent an outline of the way in which the books should be exhibited so that the endpapers would also be visible. Unfortunately, no interior photos of the exhibition have survived.

The exhibition A modern művészet (Modern Art) included significant works by the companies Tiffany and Gallé, while Siegfried Bing’s Paris gallery contributed small pieces of furniture and a collection of

applied art representing a variety of art forms. The northern countries were represented by Hermann A. Kahler, Andreas Schneider, the Rörstrand Porcelain Factory and Kongelige Porcelaensfabrik. A separate exhibition unit displayed modern poster art, acquainting the Hungarian public with the posters of Alfred Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustav Klimt and Emil Őrlik.21

In this exhibition of modern art, Jenő Radisics presented several of the endpapers he had purchased as well; however, the exhibition catalogue contained not only Kyster’s works but also ten painted endpapers by Thorvald Bindesboll.22 No documents have survived concerning the circumstances in which the Bindesboll papers were included in the exhibition—although the catalogue noted they were the property of the museum. The catalogue of Danish bindings and typographical works displayed in the Stockholm exhibition also failed to provide such information.23 Kyster’s endpapers were added to the pattern sheet collection of the library of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts in 1897.24 A record of the bank transfer refers to one hundred sheets, although the library’s inventory lists only seventy-seven. The reason for this discrepancy may be that originally twenty of them were double sheets—in other words two pieces of painted paper were affixed to one piece of cardboard. Over time, the pages were re-catalogued several times, but the name of the artist was not recorded. 25 In connection with the museum’s 1898 Modern Art exhibition, two Kyster sheets were reproduced.26 Radisics himself published one of them (paste paper with flower motifs) in the journal Magyar Iparművészet,27 while the other, a marbled sheet, appeared in Magyar Könyvszemle as an illustration to Elemér Czakó’s

62