Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)
Éva KISS: Fragmentary look at a carrier. The interior design work of László Juhász (1906-1968)
ÉVA KISS FRAGMENTARY LOOK AT A CAREER THE INTERIOR DESIGN WORK OF LÁSZLÓ JUHÁSZ (1906-1978) One of my first important and honourable tasks in the Museum of Applied Arts was in 1979 to collect the extensive, although fragmentary, material related to the life work, the career of an artist, and have it placed in the Archives. I knew the master, László Juhász, an interior designer, furniture designer, lecturer at the academy, and founder of the Applied Arts Council, as my boss, as an uncompromising head of an institution, but also as a person, supporter and well-wisher too. My shyness at the time was natural, a result of the respect someone starting out on their career is expected to show. But today, after nearly thirty years I still can not think of this man, whom these documents are about, without shaking. He had a goal, a mission to serve not his own selfish interests, but those of all of us, society, the profession and the professional community, and this consumed his life and his health. László Juhász, or Laci bácsi as we would call him, used to say, “I have three fathers - my birthfather, Gyula Kaesz and Lajos Kassák.” His father, who was a master joiner, taught him a lifelong love of the profession, the trade; Gyula Kaesz taught him what his true calling was - a responsibility for the creation of a quality human environment; while Kassák inspired in him an unflagging entrepreneurial spirit ready to change and redeem art and the world. We know little of László Juhász’s work. Some remember the teacher, who in the 1950s taught alongside Gyula Kaesz at the Academy of Applied Arts (and some say in difficult times served as his bodyguard too), and certainly there were many who consider him the founder and indefatigable head of the Applied Arts Council, who performed his work with unrivalled passion and a commitment to good causes. His role as an artist and designer was certainly secondary to his organizing work, which he carried out with unceasing enthusiasm. But László Juhász never felt the hopeless task of harmonizing design, industry and consumer demands amidst irrational circumstances was a wasted effort. 1. Portrait of László Juhász, c. 1975 159
