Fraternity-Testvériség, 2008 (86. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2008-07-01 / 3. szám
FEATURE Hungary over 20 times in the past eleven years, have studied in depth the artists’ lives and their techniques, and have encompassed painting, drawings, prints, sculpture, ceramics and textiles in their collection. In addition, upon invitation, they have traveled several times to the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, DC to share their enthusiasm for Hungarian art. Their enthusiasm is contagious and both are willing to educate neophyte collectors or the uninitiated like me. In March of 2007, Hungarian Culture Minister István Hiller along with then- Ambassador András Simonyi awarded them Hungary’s Pro Cultura Hungarica for promoting Hungarian culture, and this April, mindful of the continuing role Wiltse and Brown are making in promoting Hungarian artists, current Hungarian Ambassador and Mrs. Ferenc Somogyi traveled to Santa Fe to open this latest exhibition. The first question that’s usually asked of Wiltse and Brown is, “How did you ever get started collecting Hungarian art?” They admit that they began their collection in earnest in 1997 and fortunately, at that time, collectors and families in Hungary were beginning to release their pieces to the market. But as Americans with no Hungarian background or knowledge of the language, they were drawn to this art by one visit in the early 1990's to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. There, they discovered a book by Professor Mansbach entitled Standing in the Tempest: The Hungarian Avant Garde, 1908-1930, (1991, MIT Press). It is a lavishly illustrated book that excited Kirk and Jill to the point of wanting to collect such works themselves. At this point in their lives, they had visited museums from coast-to- coast, but they had never come across paintings by any of the artists featured in the book nor had they ever heard of any of the artists. But they were struck by the beauty, power, technique and craft of the paintings, particularly those from the period between 1890- 1935. They both presumed that surely some American museums must own and exhibit pieces by these artists, but, as they later learned, few American museums had works by Hungarian artists, and those that did, displayed such works infrequently. They said, “We wondered if the commercial art world had forgotten Hungarian art, and the more we learned about the political and economic as well as the artistic history of Hungary, the more we realized that indeed the art of Hungary had apparently been overlooked. This was due to the uneven times after World War I, but primarily to the almost 50 years of isolation under Soviet control after World War II. We hoped one day to begin collecting such beautiful art.” They continued, “Upon our first visit to Hungary in 1997, we began to see pieces that were absolutely beautiful and, to our eye, as good as artists of any nationality working in Europe at the time. Many of the Hungarian artists were trained in either Munich or Paris, but returned to Hungary for the balance of their lives, and as a result, their mature works never came to the attention of many outside their native land.” Their first piece was a small print by Joszef Rippl-Ronai, who was known for his accomplished work with pastels and who would later develop his characteristic ‘com kernels’ style, using bright colors and small brush strokes that left distinctive yet tiny mosaics of paint. After every purchase, Wiltse and Brown engaged professional conservation advice and services in Denver from the Western Conservation Center for Fine Art (WCCFA) for paintings and Eileen Clancy for works on paper. Both conservation studios were highly trained and very experienced in conserving art works. Such professional conservation efforts often yielded wonderful discoveries: for instance, after the cleaning of 90-plus years of dirt and grime, one painting, Geza Bornemisza’s “Village Street” (1911) revealed beautiful hues of purples, oranges and reds, much like the color schemes of the German Expressionist painters working at the same time. FRATERNITY - TESTVÉRISÉG 17
