Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)
ANNUAL REPORT - A 2006. ÉV - ERNŐ MAROSI: Sigismundus Rex et Imperator: Art and Culture During the Time of Sigismund of Luxemburg, 1387-1437
Prague version, the curators sought to place a significant phase of Czech art into the universal canon (imperial style). The idea of the present Budapest exhibition, a joint endeavour between Hungary and Luxemburg originated in the early years of the 1990s and as a result of political decisions the year 2006 was assigned for organizing the exhibition. The year itself did not commemorate any particular event from Sigismunde long reign, nor was it an anniversary of any sort. It was rather the time by when the Hungarian Sigismund-research has reached a point to bring forth its academic results and artistic findings after the first Sigismund exhibition organized in 1987 in the Budapest History Museum. There was published at the same time the volume Art in Hungary between 1300-1470. Since then, this summary work has called for more and more corrections and in 2003 it underwent a total revision as a result of the Gothic Art exhibition of the Slovakian National Gallery in Bratislava. Since the year 2000 several exhibitions were organized (in Paris, Dijon and Bourges, in 2004) focussing on various forms of art around 1400 (international gothic, the so-called soft style, the beautiful style, or court style). These events naturally called for the staging the Hungarian material as well. It is not easy in a business-oriented art world to embark upon an exhibition that aims at presenting academic results. It is all the more difficult if the exhibition is set out to introduce step by step a hardly known cultural context. The historical character of the exhibition was essential and it was well conveyed with the help of original and mostly contemporary art objects. The Budapest exhibition succeeded in making a balance between the two poles. To achieve this, it established a carefully set historical structure and it presented only original works of art (with the two exceptions of the plastic replica of the heavy stone carvings and the modern copy of Sigismunds portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, unavailable for loan). An external factor may also help to obtain an overall picture: our modern concept of medieval aesthetic had undergone a significant change. By now there are no more clear-cut distinctions between the "small arts" and "applied" arts (a distinction meaningless for the medieval mind); in addition, our new concept is prone to embrace the aesthetics of writing or that of seals and coins. The Sigismund exhibition did not only provide a sight; it also required previous knowledge and in a certain respect, it asked for a point of view generally unusual for the public. To attain this, staging the exhibits and making an exhibition catalogue were not enough. What was needed, was working with the public. An excellently written shorter exhibition guide was made (the work of Szilárd Papp) and the leading Hungarian journal for art connoisseurs, the Műértő, published a special number, in order to introduce the exhibition to a wider audience. A booklet for children was also prepared (though not arrived at the museum shops) attesting to
