Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 17. (Budapest, 1998)

New acquisitions 1997

DEPARTMENT OF CERAMICS "The River Sava at Jasenovac" - ceramic sculpture György Kungl, 1989 Glazed porcelain, coloured, gilded Height: 21.5 cm, width: 44.5 cm, depth: 23.5 cm Kungl calls his work "landscape sculpture". We could spend a long time listing his works according to genre. It is a fact that our artist choosing ceramic materials as a medium utilizes the dual nature of the craft: the opportunity for easy workability and richlydetailed modelling which stems from the plasticity of the materials; and the chance to number of his works - a total of two so far have joined our collection: "Indiana, 1931", acquired six years ago, and "The River Sava at Jasenovac", in 1997. In the 1970s Budapest's Petőfi Radio carried a long and detailed daily report on how deep the water was in the country's rivers. From these anyone who cared to know could find out where water-levels in the Danube, Tisza, Drava and Sava rivers were rising and where they were falling, in other words where ships could proceed safely. It was a sure point in everyday life. Using the arid report, Kungl depicts the Sava at Jasenovac with absurd playfulness: the arched form outlined at the bottom is in use colourful paints and glazes. Kungl's themes and the titles of his pieces are selected with much thought. He fashions his own personal picture postcards, and his reliefs landscapes, town scenes and interiors - are excellent depictions of moments. A small high relief, the narrow, deep riverbed sharply intersects the "bent space", and the perspective of the trees on the banks heightens the three-dimensional effect. A number of other works by Kungl would deservedly enrich our collection - among them "Ex-