Fery Veronika szerk.: Fery Antal élete, munkássága, alkotásainak jegyzéke (Miskolc, 2005)

The life and work of Antal Fery by Dr. Imre Soós

Rákóczi Castle in Szerencs, where about 300 well selected works are on show. Having taken a look at the artist's career, a résumé and evaluation of his oeuvre should follow. It's no small task to satisfy this demand; after all his small prints number well over two thousand. Specialists far better qualified than I am have written about his oeuvre at home and abroad. They have all praised the Hungarian spirit of his work and his special ability to express himself concisely. They have emphasized the manly strength, love of mankind and optimism inherent in his prints. To complement all this I must draw attention to the richness of his choice of subjects. In his ex libris and prints for special occasions almost every feature of our life, our culture is reflected. To be able to survey these more clearly I have divided the works into themes: 1 great figures of history, portraits of writers and artists, 2 historic buildings, monuments, 3 vine-wine ex libris, 4 our natural treasures, trees, flowers, 5 miniature books. 1 Engraving a portrait in wood, portraying the features of an artist or writer on the palm-sized area of an ex libris in a convincing way is one of the hardest tasks in the profession. For half a century Antal Fery engraved the portraits of great figures of Hungarian literature from the 18th century poet Csokonai to his good friend, the late József Berda. Alongside his portraits of Zoltán Kodály he preserved the features of many outstanding musicians including Erkel, Liszt, Bartók, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Wagner in his "ex musicis" pieces made for music lover collectors. He created a veritable "imaginary museum" for Hungarian artists with the portraits of Csontváry, Egry, Koszta, Károly Kós, Aba Novak etc. In Holland his Rembrandt portrait ex libris were greatly appreciated. Several of his woodcuts recalling Van Gogh are now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Also in Holland, the Van Gogh Documentation Centre in Nuenen features these prints in their permanent exhibition. Antal Fery gained popularity abroad first and foremost with his portrait ex libris. 2 Our historic buildings and monuments often appear in Fery's graphic art. Among these he engraved in wood the sights of his homeland, recalling the Rákóczi Castle in Szerencs and the puritan lines of the local fortified protestant church more convincingly than a photograph. His woodcut series showing the libraries of Hungary (Debrecen, Sárospatak, Eger, Kalocsa, Gyöngyös, etc.) is unique. 3 His vine and wine ex libris are popular beyond the borders of Hungary in all the wine producing countries of Europe. Small prints on this subject have appeared in several wonderfully produced volumes from Italy to Holland and Denmark, each of them including works by Antal Fery. The basis for a collection on this subject in the Agricultural Museum in Buda-