Zwickl András szerk.: Árkádia tájain, Szőnyi István és köre 1918–1928. (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2001/3)

TANULMÁNYOK - FERENC ZSÁKOVICS: "The Young Hungarian Etchers" - The Renewal of Graphical Art after the First World War

specific. Edith Hoffmann, the head of the Collection of Prints and Drawings, organised exhibitions in which selections from the museum's classical material were shown: Dürer's graphical works (1920, 1928), Rembrandt's etchings (1921), 1 /"-century Dutch graphics (1925), and the works of Piranesi (1927) and Goya (1928). In addition to the historical exhibitions, great importance was attached to the show Printing Techniques in Art held in 1 925, the primary aim of which was to present to the art-loving lay public the various graphic techniques using representative examples from classic authors. : All these were closely linked to Hoffmann's series of articles especially for collectors of graphics in the 1921 volume of the magazine Műbarát.

13 "Collecting prints requires a temperament entirely different from that associated with paintings," she wrote in the introductory piece of the series. "A print collector must possess the most solitary nature imaginable, who is willing to spend hours in a quiet corner, enjoying the intimate beauty of leafing through graphic sheets at leisure. He is like a collector of books, something of a scholar. I might say that he is of the most aristocratic kind of the collector, because he expect no cheering from the audience - he simply takes delight in this activity and that is all he needs."

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" In the following Hoffmann provided practical advice in connection with collecting graphics, discussing the condition, restoration, and possibilities of attribution of prints, as well as the problems of phase prints, blocks and copperplates. These articles provided a wealth of information to collectors of works by classic masters and contemporary artists alike. One group of collectors interested in graphics produced in the 1920s were art dealers who organised exhibitions and published prints. Ernő Rados' interest in graphics dated back to the period before the war; he purchased the etchings of Béla Uitz and Jenő Krön, both of whom had just finished the Academy, and he continued to keep an eye on the young artists graduating from the Graphics Department of the Academy of Fine ArtsO' Vilmos Szilárd, the director of Auróra, established similar contact with the artists, purchasing a considerable number of graphic sheets and rare trial prints in the course of the years. His collection, which was later acquired by the Hungarian National Gallery, included works by almost every artist who worked in the graphic medium during the 1920s. ' Especially important was Rudolf Bedő's collection of modern graphics, which he established during these years. In the first half of the decade he was both a close friend and a financial supporter to Vilmos Aba-Novák, Elemér F. Antal, Dávid Jándi, Vince Korda, Károly Patkó and István Szőnyi, artists whose early drawings and etchings enriched his collection.

1 The graphic sheets published by Magyar Műkiadó Rt. caught the writer and philosopher Milán Fust's attention; he added nearly one hundred prints to his collection of contemporary art from the broad selection of themes, ranging from biblical/mythological scenes to simple depictions of working people.

18 "The hardship suffered by artists, and the struggle and poverty of etchers in particular, was brought to my attention," Mrs. Erzsébet Móricz née Miskolci recalls. "They sent the plates abroad for printing at a great cost and much difficulty, as only very few of them had press machinery at home. That was when the idea of setting up an etching print machinery in Hungary came to me." ' Mrs. Móricz opened her printing workshop in Dorottya Street in late 1921. She ordered the printing machine, along with specialised books and top-quality paper and ink from abroad. Her first customers included Arnold Gara, who also gave her practical advice, along with János Kmetty and Vilmos Aba-Novák, László E. Baranszky, József Gy. Sándor and Sándor Nagy, Ágost Bayer, Gyula Komjáti Wanyerka, Imre Pérely and Oszkár lordai Schilling, as well as István Zádor and Gyula Conrad of the older generation. In addition to individual artworks, she also undertook the execution of bibliophilie publications, folders and illustrations. The works printed in her workshop were put on display in a room specially designated for this purposed

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' "She works with extreme purity and artistic perfection. We heartily welcome this enterprise that will hopefully give a boost to one of the neglected branches of our culture," the exhibition's first critic wrote. "Mrs. Móricz's artistic dedication adds technical perfection to our graphic artists' etchings, as the graphic artist in this case is only one of the artist, the other being the individual interpreter of shades and colour retouches, of the copperplate's preparation for printing..."

4 After 1923 Dr. Aladár Schilling took over the management of the workshop, and also continued the series of exhibition. István Szőnyi's latest etchings were shown on two occasions (1924, 1926), while the works of Kálmán Istókovits (1927) and Gyula Derkovits were displayed in the second half of the decade. The group exhibition featuring the compositions of Isván Szőnyi, Vilmos Aba-Novák, Jenő Tarjáni Simkovics and Károly Patkó in 1926 was inspired by Artúr Elek's article Young hiungarian Etchers published in Magyar Művészet in 1925.

22 The Hungarian Etching Workshop published Iwo graphic albums in the course of 1 928 and 1 929, one hundred copies each, which included works by Aba-Novák, Szőnyi and Patkód

1 Until the end of the First World War the buildings of the Academy of F ine Arts were used for military purposes, and so the Graphic Department could not function during the war years; the ensuing