Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 5. (Székelyudvarhely, 2006)
Mester Éva: Geometrikus alosztás, felfokozott optikai hatások, visszafogott színezés. Az art deco üvegablakainak általános restaurálási problémái. A Liszt Ferenc Zeneakadémia üvegablakainak restaurálása
Abstracts István BÓNA Mural techniques The publications edited until recently on the techniques of mural painting are partly out of date or quickly loosing actuality. Older books are mostly based on a few, often incorrectly translated sources and a few artists’ or restorers personal experiences. Scientific research became worldwide common only in the last few decades. In consequence, the bulk of information has largely increased and significantly changed. Numerous misconceptions have been proved wrong and many new questions have emerged. At the same time, barely any modem studies have been conducted on mural restoration in Hungary, and modem basic research is nonexistent. On top of it all, the most of the few results have not been published. Thus Hungarian mural remains can be studied only with the critical adaptation of foreign studies. The knowledge of pictorial techniques would, however, be important for art historians, archaeologists, architects and restorers alike. This knowledge is (or rather should be) necessary at the uncovering of murals, at the planning and in the process of restoration and the art historical analysis to arrive to the right conclusion. In restorer training, practical education has pushed theoretical pictorial knowledge into the background. If it is ever mentioned, it is never in a systematic form. Restorers had, or have, little and very random information in this field. Thus certain restorations have caused serious damages to the murals. Most of them are not known to the specialists or even to the restorer him or herself who, for lack of sufficient training in this respect, has no idea what he or she has done. As these questions are not at all discussed in universities of science or at the technical universities, the monument protection authorities, who were trained at the above universities, have no weapon to support their fight for the protection of the monuments. This urged the author to start teaching mural painting techniques based on modem knowledge at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in the academic year of 2000/2001. Since then he has been doing his best to improve the quality of the curriculum, yet he has not yet succeeded in turning this subject into an officially integrated accredited course. Thus many lessons were cancelled for the sake of “more important things” and the knowledge the author of the study would have liked to pass was less than intended or necessary. The study is composed of two more-or-less identical parts. The first part contains the description of basic technologies, materials, recipes and technical devices. These descriptions were composed so that the various techniques could be tried out without a teacher’s help. In this part the author makes an attempt to clarify the proper names of the techniques, their characteristics, grouping, since there is a relatively thick chaos in this regard among specialists and in the art historical literature. It is, for example, unclear for the professionals that very few representatives exist of the clear fresco technique. The aspects of artistic expression were more important for the painters and the commissioners than the technical limitations. If a pictorial effect could not be reached in a “fresco” the artist did not hesitate to choose another solution. It was common to complete and restore frescos in seccos in nearly every period. Thus we can call frescos all the pieces of art that were dominantly made with a fresco technique. The author tries to give a more authentic and modem recapitulation of the individual techniques than the former books written first of all for artists. In this he relies on the latest decorative painting and restoration literature and his own researches and experiences. At the introduction of the old and the modem techniques, he refers to the most important historical characteristics. The second part is devoted to history. He gives a review of the history of mural painting techniques from the beginnings of art to the latest contemporary artistic trends. (Naturally, he can only deal with those modem trends where painting in a traditional sense is applied.) The most recent and modem international literature was used in the description of the historical periods as well. The intention of the author is to pass until now unattainable information in Hungarian language. There was no premeditated balance set up between the various periods. We know too little of certain period, so these chapters are shorter than they should be, while we know more of others, which are thus perhaps more extensively discussed. There are chapters that seem to be superfluous. Such can be the somewhat too long description of glass painting. The fact that restoration analyses demonstrated one of the earliest European occurrence of soluble glass at Üröm in 2005 suggests that maybe it is not so. István Bóna Painting Conservator Senior Lecturer Hungarian University of Fine Arts 1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 69-71. István DEMETER Sekler farm from Nyikómente in the Molnár István Museum at Székelykeresztúr A Sekler farm consisting of several buildings was constructed in the Molnár István Museum at Székelykeresztúr 138
