Fraternity-Testvériség, 2010 (88. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2010-01-01 / 1. szám

wrap,” and it became popular with celeb­rities photographed at high-profile events in the U. S. In addition to fine embroidery, Mariska incorporated intricate applique, which has a long Hungarian history. Her embroidery was primarily floral in keeping with the Matyó folk embroidery style which emanated from Mezőkövesd in northeastern Hungary. Mariska placed decorative insets on outfits and all-over patterns on jackets and vests. Traditional Hungarian folk applique employs leather or felt, but Mariska’s light-weight ap­plique more closely resembles that made in Buzak in southeast Hungary, which primarily uses cotton and linen in appli­ques. Of course, Mariska used the finest materials and impeccable workmanship. She hired women to sew for her, mostly African-Americans. Her inspirations for her clothing came from San Francisco’s Chinatown, peasant pottery, Hungarian coats, museum objects, her sister’s textiles, her modern, informal life, and her inclina­tion to collect materials and influences from a variety of sources. In 1926, she recorded that she had a very steady clientele and some patrons bought whole wardrobes from her. She used the Social Register for her mail­ing list to target people who were daring enough to wear something different. The chemise dress was a favorite in order to keep the style simple and less restric­tive. In 1931, motherhood led her in a new direction. She tried to find clothes for her daughter Solveig but was disap­pointed that only pastel clothing existed in fragile fabrics with fussy decorations, and “Solveig simply wasn’t that kind of baby.” Mariska wanted more original and more practical sturdy fabrics with bright colors, so she introduced more color, peasant- influenced designs, and quality crafts­manship with embroidery and applique. The fabrics were colorfast, sturdy, and washable. The patterns allowed for ease of movement; fasteners like zippers were simple for small fingers, embellishments were playful, and the clothes were given clever names such as “Play with Me,” and “My Garden.” At the same time, Mariska’s interest in modern children’s clothing coin­cided with Ilonka’s pioneering efforts to modernize the American nursery. They exhibited together at Saks Fifth Avenue Spring 2010 in September, 1935. Young celebrities such as Princess Elizabeth and screen star Shirley Temple helped grow interest in the two sisters’ products. Mrs. Gary Cooper was a fan and visited Mariska’s New York studio. Other clients were Mrs. Paul G. Mellon, Mrs. Henry Flagler, and Mrs. James Roosevelt, Jr. Soon, Good Housekeeping and MC Call’s were reproducing paper patterns for mothers to sew their own children’s clothes. The 1938 collection reflected Mariska’s trip to Hungary with the re­appearance of the szur coat and the 1938 collection showed the parta, an elaborate head dress traditionally worn by unmar­ried Hungarian girls, in an advertise­ment for the show. During WWII, when Mariska could no longer travel to Europe for embroiderers, she went to Mexico and Guatemala. At the same time, WWII af­fected her deeply and personally because Hungary and the U.S. were on opposite sides and limited her access to Hungar­ian craftsmen at the same time that Americans’ interest in Hungarian crafts­manship deceased. Thus, Mariska turned to writing instructional books on sewing and design. In the book entitled Fash­ion Is Our Business, Mariska was fea­tured along with designers Edith Head and Hattie Carnegie. Mariska wrote in 1950 that “In Hungarian, embroidery is called Kézimunka, which literally translated, means handwork.” Mariska’s first two books on sewing led her to her book on embroidery, a new phase of her career. Although Ilonka, her sister, was serious and rarely spoke in public about her work, Mariska was vibrant, outgoing and eager to share her love and knowl­edge of embroidery, abstraction, and materials with others. Most of the works were considered on par with abstract paintings, but she was considered a “painter in thread,” not a weaver. In 1949, she completed her embroidery book Adventures in Stitches: A New Art of Embroidery, which the Washing­ton Post in I975 considered “the best on the market for those who aspire to do creative work.” She also held two teach­ing appointments: at Miami University in Oxford, OH and at the Haystack Moun­tain School, a prestigious craft school founded in 1950 in remote Maine. When asked if she had any favorite works, she said she was always fondest of what she had most recently completed. Her earli­est embroidered pictures were represen­tational images—portraits, landscapes, and objects—but her later works evolved into abstract styles. As needlework editor at House Beautiful from 1952-53, she brought the fine art of stitchery and embroidery into the American home. From 1910-1950, Mariska developed three distinct phases of her career: wom­en’s fashion designer, children’s fashion designer, and fiber artist. It was said that “she doesn’t work” with her materials; she plays with them. In the December, 1929 issue of the Christian Science Monitor, an article appeared entitled “Hungarian Ideas Modernized,” which said, “Unlike most designers who seek to bring the animation of Eastern European dress to the atten­tion of American women, Miss Mariska Karasz has modernized her patterns of Magyar derivation until they are scarcely recognized as such. When using her Hungarian motifs, she often borrowed from Hungarian religious services to show the whole inner structure and basic unit of rural society.” The writer Sarah Booth Conroy of the Washington Post, Times Herald in 1973 wrote, “Many people’s interest in stitchery credit the resurgence of interest in the art to articles written by Mariska Karasz which ran in 1950 in House Beautiful.” In 1961, the Museum of Contemporary Crafts presented an exhibi­tion of her embroidered wall hangings. The director wrote, “Her appreciation of beautiful colors and textures in fabrics is an inheritance from the rich folkcrafts of her native Hungary,” and credited her with “one of the persons most responsible for stimulating a rebirth of stitchery in the U.S.” What a lasting legacy these two sisters leave—the imprint of Hungary on fashion, art, embroidery, furniture, textiles, children’s wear, stationery, wall­paper, wrapping paper, china and crafts. If not for the Karasz sisters, our lives would be barren of much of Hungarian influence. References Callahan, Ashley, Modern Threads: Fashion and Art by Mariska Karasz, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia, 2007. Callahan, Ashley, Enchanting Modern by Ilonka Karasz, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia, 2003. 16

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