Őriné Nagy Cecília: A gödöllői szőnyeg 100 éve (Gödöllő, 2007)

THE GÖDÖLLŐ CARPET'S 100 YEARS

Gödöllő artists' group exhibition in the National Salon in Budapest. "We know one great treasure - the greatest, and that is what we seek and nurture: joie de vi vre We tend to its flame with all our efforts, in ourselves and each other. Our only helper is the love we feel for others and ourselves. We love ourselves when we live purely, heed the heavenly word sounding in us. We love others when we consider ourselves the small offshoots, leaves or flowers of the great common tree of life, ones that feed on the great common root of life. Small lives in the warm bosom of the great eternal life. What our day-to-day work produces in the light of this jubilant joy of life is our art. We know no other artistic programme." The names of artists from Gödöllő frequently occur also in connection with art commissions for building decorations of the age, so it was the case with painting frescoes for the Music Academy of Budapest opening in 1907 and working even today (University of Music), with the stained-glass and mosaic decoration of the Hungarian pavilion in Venice in 1909 and with the unified inner decoration in art nouveau style of the Palace of Culture in Marosvásárhely (today: Tirgu Mures, Romania) in 1911-1912. The foundation of the weaving workshop in Gödöllő is associated with two weaver artist women, Sarolta Kovalszky and Margit Guilleaumme. They won several World Expo awards with their finely executed artistic carpets, but their weaving workshop in Németelemér, Torontál county, suffered from financial difficulties, so they sought and received support from state resources. At that time, Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch was already living in Gödöllő, since he had moved there in 1901. This town is 25 km away from Budapest, is noted for its pleasant natural surroundings and the royal summer palace. It was decided then that the workshop of the two weaver artists would be moved to Gödöllő to join the artist's colony under organization. For the artists of the colony, this weaving workshop offered an opportunity to give full vent to their talent in design and education and to their high respect to handicrafts.