Veszprémi Nóra - Jávor Anna - Advisory - Szücs György szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 2005-2007. 25/10 (MNG Budapest 2008)

STUDIES - Zsuzsa FARKAS: Reproductions in a Sculptor's Estate from the 1870s: Anna Christ's Photographs of Ferenc Kugler's Statues

9. Anna Christ: Statue of Jesus Christ in Ferenc Kugler's studio, ca. 1870 (Franciscan abbey). HNG which it was rebuilt by the architect Farnek József is unknown, the plans have disappeared, the papers concerned mention the mere fact of the request for permitting the reconstruction. It seems that the rapid development of the area around the Beleznay Gardens facilitated the operation of two photo studios side by side. In 1882, however, Anna Christ sold her studio to Simon Csonka, who was the owner of five studios on Kerepesi út in the period between 1860 and 1899.

27 With regard to these so-called impromptu sculptor studios of the mid19

th century, I would like to call attention to three data that may be interesting due to their subject matter. József Engel built a studio in the garden of the National Race Course in 1868, and, with the help of architect Béla Haliczky moved to 17 Futó utca. The fine design of the building with glass walls has come down to us.

28 In 1872, a two-storey sculptural workshop was built at what is now 9 Klauzál utca,

29 but its user is unknown. The notable sculptor Miklós Izsó had a studio built at 20 Rózsa utca in 1874, but could only use it for a short while because of his untimely death a year later.

30 Painters had no need of special buildings, as they could work and receive their clients in any well-lit room. Viktor Madarász was the first Pest painter who had a studio house built for himself upon returning from Paris in 1869.

31 Alas, neither the plans for this house, nor the request for the permit to build it have survived, the only source being the record made of it by the Building Committee.

32 To return to our point of departure, according to the data collected by Gyula Soós, the oeuvre of Ferenc Kugler numbers 10. Anna Christ: Statue of Jesus Christ in Ferenc Kugler's studio, ca. 1870 (the Wenzel family tomb). HNG about fifty sculptures; now, these can be eked out by the newly found reproductions. There is no space here to discuss his whole oeuvre, all we can do is publish the reproductions of the eight yet unknown works and the statue of the poet Sándor Petőfi in his studio garden. Kugler made thirty effigies, and we know only the names of some of their commissioners; the photographs, however, show unknown persons, and their identification seems impossible.

33 In the photograph by Anna Christ, there is a bust of the politician Ferenc Deák on one side of the garden path. Two of its plaster copies are in the collection of the National Gallery, and its marble versions are in the Sopron city hall and the assembly hall of the Academy of Sciences. On the other side of the path, we see a bust of Sándor Petőfi moulded for Kiskunfélegyháza in 1867. The artist had used a portrait made in the 1840s, and the press of the day emphasized its "lifelikeness".

34 It depicts the poet in less of a state of frenzy than Miklós Izsó's statue with its up-turned eyes and ruffled hair more attractive for both the eye and the emotions. The busts of Count and Countess Gyula Andràssy were photographed in the studios of Doctor and Kozmata and Kozmata and Associate. The associations of studios can be separated on the basis of advertisements at the time; we can thus infer that Andrássy's portrait found its way into the photographic studios in 1867, and his wife's portrait in 1868.

35 The artist sculpted the marble versions in 1871.

36 (Ills. 7-8)