Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
A view from afar
School complex, finished by Dénes Györgyi, the Zoo, finished by Zrumeczky and the Wekerle estate, finished by Zoltán Tornallyai. Kós usually came by his commissions relying on his earlier successes - so we can safely say, with his fame - as well as his network, and a bit of luck and convincing arguments and plans. Apart from this, he needed ambition as well. He believed in architecture, his professional program and its social consequences - and he worked full force to realise his artistic and social agenda. While in 1909 he was flooded with work and he complained to Ida how he had no time even to go on holiday - he found time to spell out the plans for an artists' colony to be created in Kecskemét to the mayor of the town, Elek Kada. In this document Kós presents an overview of the mission of art and artists in the changing society of his time and the role of artists' colonies in Hungary and abroad, analysing their success with regard to international artistic movements. He gives his arguments supporting the creation of the colony clearly and logically, including the need for identity building at local and national level alike and spelling out his professional credo. It is important for us to know that these young men were no beginners. They understood the Zeitgeist and saw their own role in the full complexity of a progressive social-artistic-cultural movement, learning from examples abroad, such as the British Arts and Crafts movement and the Finnish group of artists Kós referred to as ‘Saarinen's circle'. In this respect it is easier to understand why Kós was held in high regard by the officials of some of the ministries and municipal departments, where investments and projects tended to be seen as interconnected with the modernisation of society and creating a new system of institutions. The Zoo and the Székely National Museum, or even 16
