Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 20. (Székelyudvarhely, 2020)
Focht Anna: Gorka Géza padlóváza restaurálása
Anna Focht Conservation of a floor vase by Géza Gorka During the 1910-20’s in Hungary, factory products crafted mostly by the manufactures of Herend and Zsolnay dominated the market, and ceramic artists mostly displayed their artworks exclusively on exhibitions. After the First World War, ceramics became an essential part of home culture. At that time, Hungarian art ceramics achieved international successes, which can be mainly attributed to István Gádor, Margit Kovács and Géza Gorka. In 1927, Géza Gorka built his own workshop in the garden of the family villa in Nógrádverőce. From 1936 on, when he left using ready-made glazes as well as cracked glazes; new techniques, special self-mixed glazes and reduced firings started to characterise his works. The style, the scenic effect and the plastic character of glazes he used became his trademarks. His artworks were included in the domestic (O. M. I. T. and the National Association of Hungarian Applied Artists) and foreign exhibitions (Monza 1930, Tokyo 1932, Österreichischer Kulturbund 1935, Geneva, Baltic States 1936, the World Exhibition in Milan (1933), Brussels (1934), Paris (1937), New York (1939). His works were awarded several times at the Milan Triennial. Géza Gorka got acquianted to István Szabó at the Expo in 1936-37 in Cleveland (officially called the Great Lakes Exposition), an interior designer, who later came to be the owner of the vase. According to family reminiscence, the object became the property of the Szabó family in 1939. The vase, which is an outstanding example of the pottery glazed in an individual painterly way, was created at the beginning of the artist’s independent era around 1935- 42. Green and teal coloured glaze formed the aquatic plant and animal life motifs appearing on the vase. Blue, turquoise, brown and white are the supplemental colors used. Due to the specific use of glaze, the surface seem slightly plastic and glaze cracks appear on the surface. Damage during the Second World War had resulted in a large gap and several major cracks in the surface. Its then owner had pieced the fragments together, but they slipped apart over time. The large gap had been repaired with gypsum, into which wires and a spacer piece of wood were placed for stiffening, which were made visible by X-rays. The further investigations (XRF, SEM-EDX, RDX) were mainly aimed at determining the materials of the body and the glazes. Disassembly of the vase and mechanic plaster removal were done with water-soaked poultices. Cracks were injected with Araldit 2020 epoxy adhesive; temporarily compilation of fragments was necessary for preparing and modelling the infills. Replacements for the missing sculpted surface parts were made from Acrystal-type polymerised plaster and with the help of plastilene repairs that were fashioned and silicone negatives that were taken from them. The reconstruction of fish and plant ornaments of the incomplete parts were designed according to the photos taken of the object, and after the motifs were patterned into the plasticine supplement based on the features of the object. A negative form of this was created of silicone, so a precisely fitting addition could be applied from the inner surface along the fragments. The final sticking was performed using colourless epoxy resin (Akepox 5020). Retouching was done with acrylic paints using airbrush and hand-painting techniques. The repairs were given a coating of matte and glossy acrylic varnish. Translated by: Anna Focht 238
