Sz. Kürti Katalin: Vezető a debreceni Medgyessy Ferenc Emlékmúzeum Medgyessy Ferenc (1881-1958) életmű-kiállításához (Debrecen, 2006) (Debrecen, 1978)

atmosphere, and their equal enforcement of the symbolic quality of the allegory. The greatest merit of the sculptor here is manifested in the adequate perception of the relationship between the parts and the entire composition, which finds its expression in the unity of the square, the building of the museum, and the individual sculptures. These four reclining nudes represent the climactic point in Medgyessy's lifework, although their role is also noteworthy in the development of modern sculpture in general. It embodies a synthesis of ancient art and of the influences of 20th-century modern European sculpture, filtered through the artistic individuality of the sculptor Medgyessy to make it peculiarly his own. This is exactly the reason why it was possible for him to receive a grand prize in 1937 in Paris for these four nudes located in Debrecen. Medgyessy's oeuvre is organic, homogeneous, and indivisible. He was very consistent in building this oeuvre, sometimes sticking even to his mistakes, finally making them a flavorsome part or a virtue of his personality. He was bold enough to produce nothing more than pure sculpture and tough enough to use only the tools of fine arts for this purpose. The modernity and universality of his art is due to the new way of thinking about sculptural art. Even his small scale figures display a power that can virtually stretch space, which is why his pieces representing dancers or mothers with their children proved suitable for upscaling and being transferred to public spaces. Medgyessy was a regenerating figure of plastic art in Hungary, whose efforts related him to the French artists Maiol and Despiau. A number of his monumental statues and reliefs are on display in as sundry places as Budapest, Baja, Győr, Miskolc, Hódmezővásárhely, Sárospatak, Székesfehérvár, Veszprém, Szolnok and a host of other smaller cities. However, the largest number of his works is available in his native Debrecen, where they were mostly exhibited between 1922 and 1999. Significant portions of his smaller size pieces are located in the collections of Magyar Nemzeti Galéria [Hungarian National Gallery], Budapest Történeti Múzeum [Historical Museum of Budapest], the art gallery of Győr, and the museums of Hódmezővásárhely, Pécs, and Miskolc. Debrecen's Déri Múzeum began collecting samples of Medgyessy's plastic and graphic art as early as 1930. Following the death of the widow of the artist, the estate containing up to four hundred sculptures and three thousand graphical items was transferred to Debrecen, where a memorial museum was inaugurated in 1982 for housing it. For this purpose, an 18th-century residential building (which functioned as a garrison in the 19th century) was renovated and expanded. That is how the memorial exhibition was first created, which is now re-opened after a 10-year interval. The front room contains the material that illustrates the Medgyessy life path (complete with contemporary photographs, drawings, manuscripts, and documents), while two small vaulted rooms display the oeuvre in a chronological order and five other rooms according to a thematic breakdown. This is supplemented by the so-called summary exhibition located in the roof-lit exhibition hall, which presents a selection of the artist's models for monuments and tombstones, his equestrian statues, and the plastic and graphic precedents of the four nudes located on Déri tér. The larger size statues and the various portraits about the artist, including the one prepared by Makrisz Agamemnon, are situated under the arcades and in the courtyard. 54