Öriné Nagy Cecília (szerk.): A gödöllői szőnyeg 100 éve - Tanulmányok a 20. századi magyar textilművészet történetéhez (Gödöllő, 2009)
Summaries
128 who realized the so-called Cifrapalota ('fancy palace') and several members of the group Fiatal Építészek ('young architects') established important buildings in Kecskemét. It was decided that the "neoist" painters breaking away from the artists' colony of Nagybánya would be asked to settle in Kecskemét, so Béla Grünwald and Elek Falus worked out a project (in 1909) to that effect; with the idea that the settler artists were expected to extend their help in architectural art. The Artists' Clony of Kecskemét consisted of fine art and applied art sections. The most important accomplished part of the latter was the Carpet Weavers's Workshop of Kecskemét operating under the artistic guidance of Elek Falus (1884-1950). Their principal objective was (in addition to the creation of the artistic textile of Kecskemét) to use the Carpet Weaver as a means for making home industry competitive, for elevating it to artistic level lest industrial production could imitate the beauty, tastefulness and artistic value of their products. Girls who turned 12 could apply on payment of a school fee to be weaver apprentices in the institute opened in 1909. In the space of a few months, the weaving school based also on the principles of Ruskin and Morris "produced carpets and cushions prepared in an artistic manner", presented even to the town public with success, ( Iparos Otthon , /'artisan home'/ issue of November 20, 1909). Falus provided the institute with artistic carpet designs; Armin Fischer copied his designs onto chequered paper, while Ilona Medveczky directed the process of weaving and execution. Yarn types employed during the work were acquired in little part from local tradesmen (Northern yarn from Bognár), but the greatest part of them was ordered from Temesvár (Sudan, Smyrna, Persian and Coula). Beside knotted carpets, they prepared knotted cushions, covers and also different fabrics. The main part of the executed carpets was hand knotted Persian, but there were some Smyrna, Soumak and Torontáli among them, too. According to the data recorded in the Ledger of Prepared Goods of the Carpet Weaver's Workshop of Kecskemét, 129 carpets in different size and techniques, 1 57 cushions and 94 covers have been prepared. They also recorded the buyers. There were artists, art historians and other members of the intelligentsia among them who were keen on putting in high standard interior designs in their homes (Elek Kada, Pongrácz Kacsóh, Béla Lázár, Pál Majkovszky, Béla Málnai, Tibor Szivessy, László Vágó, etc.). The carpets are similar to the art nouveau style frontispieces of Falus prepared at that time ( Nyugat könyvek /'books edited by the literary periodical Nyugat'/). Stylised motifs transcribed into ornaments (or half motifs, ones cut in two - Falus liked to use the kind) fill the surface bordered by double or even triple trimmings, i.e. the middle region of the carpets. Stylised leaves, flower wreaths; compositions with tulips, lilies of the valley, daisies and birds, often in a system of panels were varied. Bright reds, loud greens and the darks increased decorativeness, whereas violets revealed a certain kind of decadence. In addition to the stylising-decorative endeavours of Béla Iványi Grünwald (and some of his disciples), the carpet designs of Elek Falus have the most direct relation with and are the closest standing to that branch of art nouveau, which is represented in the clearest way in the architecture of Kecskemét by Cifrapalota, by its ornamental over-decoratedness. Falus was the designer of the sgraffito decoration of the painted plaster on the outer wall of the grammar school in Mátyás square (designed by the architects Béla Jánszky and Tibor Szivessy in 1911), and also he designed, aided by Lipót Herman, the interior decoration (stained glass windows, fireplace, ornamental painting) of the big hall of the House of Business Society. Yet, it turned out soon that beside the initial achievements, the diverse activities of Falus being chiefly linked with Budapest took away his energy and designer capacity from Kecskemét. The following remark was made during the general meeting in 23 February 1911: Falus "gets 3000 Crowns a year for leading the carpet weaving workshop /.../, and in spite of this handsome honorarium, his activity is not satisfactory. He does not provide the institute with a sufficient number of designs, and he does not show the required interest towards the institute. Falus has been away for more than 3 months and the institute is in lack of artistic guidance." Since the designer activity of Falus became temperamental and because they failed to create a permanent and growing circle of customers and consumers, the Carpet Weavers' Workshop of Kecskemét closed down (on 30 September 1912.). They tried to convert into money the carpets left on hand in an auction (Museum of Applied Arts, 3 March 1913) and in exhibitions. The activity of the Carpet Weavers' Workshop of Kecskemét and the artistic standard of its preserved creations justify that the section of applied arts was not out of place, and also that it could organically build itself into the structure of the Artists' Colony of Kecskemét. Judit Pálosi Noémi Ferenczy at the start of her career I try to outline Noémi Ferenczy's portrait of creator starting out on her career, for the purposes of the collection of essays and of the conference relating to the exhibition The Gödöllő Carpet's 100 Years organised by the Town Museum of Gödöllő. The beginning of this artist career in Nagybánya coincided with the activity of the colony in Gödöllő. Parallelly with the artists' movement of Gödöllő but choosing an individual path independently from them, a gifted personality born in a family of artists and brought up in the sublime cultural atmosphere of the museums of Europe blossomed out and rose to European rank. Noémi Ferenczy was 26 years old when she made her first public appearance in the Ernst Museum in 1916. She dedicated
