Korsókra varázsolt legendák. Németh János figurális díszítésű edényei (Zalaegerszeg)

Legends on pitchers

Zala county. Peasants poured wine with fine beads from pitcher-shaped prototypes into glasses drenched with dew in order, that later, it would stroke the parched throat of weary wine-growers in cellars of exactly the same kind. The artist drew inspiration from old photographs or memorial leaves. The Pro Patria pitcher was made in the model of an old-time trooper's dismissory letter, on one side the soldier sitting on his horseback, on the other side his portrait set in a frame and under it his horse stands separately. Nearly the same hussar appears on a glazed bottle. The prototype of the lady on the backside who is wearing a broad-brimmed hat, a long skirt and holding flowers in her hands, might have been an old photograph seen by the artist. There is some optimism on the majority of pitchers. This sometimes grows into earthy humour, like the Wine-harvest bottle, on which, opposite the grape-gatherer with a butt on his back, there is a ramifying billy-goat eating grapes or the figures of the monks, who are holding a psalm book with verses, which praise drinking instead of praying. Similar genre pictures can be seen on Fisherman-pitcher and on Harvest-pitcher reminding us of everyday life. The book-shaped bottles making up the second group are special due to their characteristic shape (the first of this type was created at the end of the 80s). Their forerunners were the decorated spirit-flasks. The artist magnified their size, altered their form into book-like form, since both books and spirits make you clever. The choice of subject does not fundamentally differ from that of those found on round-shaped pots, but there is an important difference that cannot be neglected. While in the case of the round-shaped pitchers, theoretically the whole surface serves as the ground for representation, making it possible for the artist to create an unbroken and infinite composition - though Németh does not always exploit this possibility. In the case of the book-shaped bottles the right-hand side and the reverse side offer two vertical flat surfaces. The field is more limited but the curvature of the pot and the distortion of the view of motifs, due to this, can be left out of consideration. (It applies with equal force to the rectangular bottles belonging to the first group.) As a result of their character these bottles can represent much less narrative elements, so their representation is laconic but more clearly arranged. Certain motives are more highlighted, consequently their role can be overestimated. It comes from what has been mentioned above, that these pots are not unique, their motifs have often been made by moulds and these not too big compositions sometimes appear as individual reliefs, too. The next, rather small group is made up of flat round flasks, decorated with reliefs on two sides, standing on four legs. There are altogether two of them (in 2003), but because of their particular technique it is reasonable to put them into an independent group. Their body in fact is a short cylinder standing on its side supplemented with a narrow neck at the top, legs at the bottom. Since the wheeled form was supplemented at the bottom it is no longer a solid of rotation in itself, though its body and neck, with their axes perpendicular to each other are cylinder-like. The characteristic features of form and decoration can be found in other groups - in a different context - so the two flasks can be interpreted as their variants. Their two sides are decorated with János Németh's typical motives: the wine-drinking János Háry, the stag, the tree of life. The fourth group of János Németh's crockery is made up of stew-pots produced at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. These are either made in characteristic grey, almost iridescent, metallike surface or with a dark brown glaze. They are the descendants of the characteristic cooking utensils of nomadic shepherds, who cooked their food above an open fire and spent most of their life under the open sky, by their herd, according to the age-old tradition. A stew-pot in the puszta might have been as valuable as a set of sparkling and glittering cooking utensils. Unlike Németh's other pottery, they have a lid, under which the food will cook much faster, the former "hat" has only an aesthetic function now. Except in two cases - the buttons or rather the handles of the lids are stylized figures: a man, a woman, a goat, a ram, fish, a cat or a dog. These are, similarly to the artist's other plastic works, assembled from wheeled parts: cones and tubes. The exceptionally simple basic patterns make up characteristic figures with exceptional proportion and posture. The body of the pots except the lids is plain or decorated with a string running round. Beside that the double ears break up the surfaces. One of the above-mentioned exceptions is a 17