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

Legends on pitchers

piece - the Monk stew-pot - which belongs to this group owing to its form, lid and colour - but because of it's body, which is transformed into a figure, it belongs rather to the fifth group. Its lid is the monk's cap, which ends in a button, the two ears are his open arms. The other exception is a pot representing a shepherd, in place of his hands there are two stylized sheep, the cone-shaped upper part is crowned with a button, too. The fifth, the youngest, distinctive group is composed of pots - reflecting the time when they were made, kaspo function is attributed to them - where the pan, with archaic patterns, standing on legs, is in fact a totally authentic animal figure (cock, stag, ram, wild-boar). The panplanter's round hollow is the given animal's trunk, the head which functions as a handle (or tab), and a tail break up the closeness of the pot-block, while the legs could be of use when placing it over the fire. These lovable and playful animals are fired at lower temperature. There is another man-shaped "legged" stew-pot belonging to this group. It was produced much earlier and is covered in brown and blue glaze. We put it into this group because of its three legs, but considering its characteristically closed form it differs very little from the next group. The archetype of the earliest, (up to the first half of 1970s) the sixth group of János Németh'

s figurai pottery is the Svejk-pitcher made in 1961. The artist drew inspiration from the favourite wine-jug of the Hungarian folk pottery - the colourful Miska-jug, in other areas the black Jancsijug - transforming the vessel's wheeled body into a man with a moustache. Later on several similar jugs were produced in Németh'

s studio - Woman, Monk, a Turk, Turkish bashaw, Canon, St. Peter etc. - a twin-pot representing a couple is a real rarity - what is more the lids are of totally different shapes. Since these pots are basically solids of rotation, the figures and their attributes are largely symbolic signals. Only the Woman-jug has two bigger bumps below her neck. The monk, who is wearing a robe, is holding a crucifix in front of himself, St. Peter is giving his blessing with one of his raised hands while he is holding the key in the other. The canon is praying with his hands folded. The Turkish bashaw is placing his hands together in front of him, his left hand is resting on the handle of his sword. The couple are embracing one another, but these gestures are of very little plastic representation on the body of the pitchers. The original function maybe most self-evident, yet all of them are autonomous sculptural works. It is true for the artist's every pitcher with figurative forms and decoration (using this word strictly as a synonym for pottery) that he does not use any other shape which his potterancestors did not use. All his vessels are of harmonious proportion, truly showing how rich first of all the Hungarian, secondly the universal potter's craftsmanship are. In the wide range of the craft's vocabulary one can find the appropriate traditional terminology and in every case their original function can be defined, too. Though not all his decorative patterns and figures have their origins in folk-art, all of them could well be of folk-origin. Németh'

s thematic and emblematic representation fits in well with the philosophical system of folk-art, regarding the form, it seems to be completely in accordance with the method of composing folk-art. János Németh goes beyond folk-art with all the different types of his pitchers, especially with the ones decorated with reliefs. There are two important manifestations of it. On the one hand the original utility function has changed, on the other hand the artist has made his subject matter universal. Reminiscences of his sculpting art of different cultures appear on the reliefs of these utensils so that they make folkart fruitful and live in harmony with it. A traditional and creative mind, based on a wide range of knowledge is unified into a new quality, which results from it logically, both "from below" (from the direction of folk-art) and "from above" (from the direction of sculpting art) and can be taken on, constituting one of the most characteristic and atmospheric "plastic-applied-art world" collections of the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. 18