Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)

Éva KISS: Fragmentary look at a carrier. The interior design work of László Juhász (1906-1968)

and I think this year has been the most active, intellectually ... I visit the Kassáks a lot. 1 take part in the young Hungarian “objective” social and artistic efforts. We have a lot of strength and faith. Painters, sculptors, writers, economists, clerks, labourers and craftsmen come ... we too will have results with this work. We have a magazine too; Kassák edits it. It’s a nice, strong publication with a well-defined purpose ... Kassák is a fantastic person; I have never seen anything like him.”6 Then, with Ambrózy’s help, he got a job in the office of Gábor Forgó, who had been designing fashionable art deco furnishing since the second half of the 1920s. “I am so happy that you introduced me to Forgó,” he wrote Ambrózy, “It has proved a great advantage to me. (In the last two years) He and I worked together steadily on the largest interior design projects in Pest - Palace, Ostende, Astoria; there were smaller projects too, flats, shops, bar expansions, etc. I have learned a lot.”7

The architectural design and furnishing of cheaper flats always occupied the interest of László Juhász. In 1932 the National Hungarian Applied Arts Council and the city of Budapest announced two different design competitions for cheap furnishings for one and two room flats. László Juhász’s designs received much acclaim and awards.8 In the 1930s according to his own account, he was an interior designer with Lajos Beczássy’s decorating company, and from 1935 to 1938 he was employed by the Havas furnicture factory. “At these companies, they followed the latest architectural trends ... their designers set the styles for today’s world.9

In the 1930s, the Budapest Union of Fine Furniture was organized in Veres Pálné Street, where László Juhász worked not merely as a designer but as a managing director too. Meanwhile he designed portals, exhibition pavilions, and in 1937 he received a commission for the furnishing of the Fenyves Department Store (Kálvin tér department store) which was being renovated at the time. The open passage, “Fenyves ucca” with ‘glittering’ shop windows and lit advertisements was built according to his plans. (In the renovations after the war, the shop windows were built in.)10 His works were fresh and inventive. The design of his portals and plans for the Fenyves department store were influenced by the trends most closely associated with European art deco and the avant-garde.

From 1936 on, the National Applied Arts Council continually announced “New Hungarian Home” competitions and exhibitions, the aims of which were the design of modern, affordable homes for the various layers of Hungarian society. “The New Hungarian Home Exhibit” initiated by Gyula Kaesz was a forward-looking enterprise shining light on the future. The competition and exhibit, whose focus not only on the flats but also on the gardens and entire surrounding was also a step forward, can easily be called revolutionary. It was truly a useful meeting point for the designer, the manufacturer and the user too.”11

László Juhász won first prize and his

161