Imre Jakabffy (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 1. (Budapest, 1973)

KOÓS, Judith: Walter Crane and Hungary

honoured with the prize of the 1898 National Competition at the disposal of the institution in my charge for exhibition . . .". "It was this material I selected from the pieces exhibited here, first of all those ones to which the golden and silver medals had been awarded too. Although I should have liked that our public should see all of them, but I had to abandon this idea to save expenses, and because the Museum has not had the aidances necessary for the organization of large scale exhibitions". Then he continues. "The London Jury of Award made its opinion public concerning each of the groups, and many cases also the grounds upon which the relevant prizes had been adjudicated to. I am publishing extracts from this report in the present roll, as they complete and explain the exhibited material in an extremly interesting way, and let us have a deeper insight into the principles and system followed or considered fit to be followed in the scientific and artistic education in England." These antecedents and others not mentioned here led up to Walter Crane's visit to Hungary and to the organization of his comprehensive exhibition in the Museum of Applied Arts. In paving the way to this visit quite a significant part was played by Kálmán Rozsnyai (1874—1948) — Van der Hoske by pen name — a personal acquaitance of William Morris and Oscar Wilde. Kálmán Rozsnyai wrote in one his letters :

10 "The Master is tremendously taken up for the time being by the exhibitions. Paris, Berlin, Liverpool, then Budapest ... I have been living for two and a half months with him, with them. During this time there has scarcely been a day when we would not have been speaking about Hungarian artistic circumstances. He listened with great interest to what I told him about the operation of the Iparművészeti Társulat (Society of Hungarian Applied Arts), our folkcraft, Zsolnay, Lechner, Wartha, the people of Mrs. Gyarmathy. He liked the periodical issued by the Society very much, and, as far as I know, he even wrote his opinion of it to Mr. Kálmán Györgyi, out of whose kind attention he got the memorial volume published on the occasion of the millennium in the last few days only, on which he has voiced his view in a most rapturous manner. Seeing the splendid position of our decorative arts (well, and a little bit at my instigation, too), the Master decided to organized an exhibition of his works in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts this year, in the course of September or October. — Decorative friezes and panels, statues, pieces of furniture, embroideries, books, fans, wall-papers, custom designs, illustrations, ex librises, seals, fabrics, silks, damasks, ceramics and glass objects, a whole legion of windows-design will there be on the show. Almost every work of art created by this great genius. — Today we have received the letter, that his plan is gradly supported by Mr. Elek K. Lippich, Mr. György Rath, and Mr. Jenő Radisics, and we have set about assembling the collection already today . . In the same special edition appeared Walter Crane's letter written for the "Magyar Iparművészet", under the title "Some words on the Hungarian arts and crafts" which, with regard to its significance, we are republishing here.

12 "It is hard to form an idea of the Hungarian applied arts on basis of descriptions only, as it would otherwise be hard on the art of any nation or age; a photo, however, or a woodcut, even if it does not perfectly set the object represented before us, still has a certain effect on us and often gives a very clar and great impression also of things that are entirely alien from us. Thus what I can talk about is an impression only, but — and I remark it immediately at the outset — the impression of the enormous variety and richness of the Hungarian applied arts. Perusing the beautiful book titled "Az iparművészet 156