Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 97. (Budapest, 2002)

The Year 2002

TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS BIEDERMEIER, HISTORICISM. SELECTIONS FROM THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN COLLECTION MARCH 2002 - JANUARY 2003, DORIC HALL CURATOR OF THE EXHIBITION! BRIGITTA CIFKA The permanent exhibition of the nineteenth-century collection opened in 1993 in the ground-floor wing on the left hand side of the building. The last room there, with slender columns, is the Ionic Hall. On the other side, across from the longitudinal axis of this hall stands its counterpart, the recently renovated Doric Hall. The designer of the building, Albert Schikedanz constructed here a sumptuous historicizing room from the architectural elements of the Doric style, an ambience which is well-suited to house nineteenthcentury works of art (fig. 66). For lack of space, outstanding pieces had to be excluded from the permanent exhibition. It is from the Austrian collection

—which has grown largest for historical reasons

— that most of the paintings, sculptures and medals worthy to be shown were omitted. To a lesser extent, the situation is similar with the German works from the second half of the century. Besides the display of a selection of works from the museum deposits, the exhibition also included new acquisitions and recently restored works, in a total number of 72. In the temporary exhibition, Austrian painting numbered above other schools. The most outstanding masters were present: Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793-1865) and