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

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

organizing “Art in Industry” exhibits, which could be interpreted with the help of their “message” and keywords: Industrial art - beauty, practicality, economy. In time the magazine, Ipari Művészet [Industrial Art] was founded, which between 1962 and 1975 gave information on the work of the Council, its exhibits and its “Most Beautiful Products” competitions, which were started in 1963. Some editions contained translations of articles from foreign journals and reports on foreign exhibits and conferences. These communications in this period had overwhelming significance. In 1962, for example, the Hungarian public had an opportunity to read Walter Gropius’s speech given at the Royal Society of Arts, or selections from Architektur und Wohnform.

Politics as a whole did not favour the affairs of the Applied Arts Council. While the founding charter describes the institution’s task as “to build connections with similar institutions and bodies in other countries and organize an exchange of experiences,” László Juhász was obliged to turn down a series of invitations to western Europe. In 1957 the ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) was formed, and its vice-president, Pierre Vágó, the son of József Vágó, continually sent cordial invitations to international exhibitions and congresses. “The second grand meeting of the ICSID to be held in Venice on September 14-17, has organized, in addition to other events, a photography exhibit to present industrial product designs. We are pleased to invite you to participate in this exhibition.’18

Juhász’s response was “I am sorry to report that for technical reasons we can not take part in the congress in a collective form. Our inability to attend is truly a loss for my colleagues and me, because we had great expectations of what we would gain

from attending the lectures and viewing the exhibition material.”19

In the first half of the 1960s a succession of institutions coordinating industrial design were established in the former communist countries: the Industrial Design Council in East Germany in 1962, a similar institution in Czechoslovakia in 1964, the Advisory Committee for Industrial Aesthetics in Bulgaria in 1963, and so on. Later in 1966 a conference with representatives of industrial aesthetics institutions from every country of Europe met in Warsaw.20

Joint research and exchanges of experience and developmental programs affecting several countries helped the Applied Arts Council temporarily avert the danger of being ignored or dissolved, but in the second half of the 1960s its role and significance was minimized to an even greater degree. This could perhaps be explained by the serious illness of the founder and head of the Council, and his eventual move into retirement. After thorough consideration, however, it appears that his illness and retirement were a result of incomprehension, difficult circumstances and discord. Dissolution, or rather reorganization, of the Council took place only in 1975, after a ministerial resolution that prescribed the establishment of an Industrial Design Information Centre.

The thoughts expressed above are an attempt to call attention to the significance and diversity of a creative life, but also to show how the recent history of applied art is full of grey areas. László Juhász’s career and the stages in the history of the Applied Arts Council based on the documents accumulated in the archives of the Museum of Applied Arts should be studied and understood, as research of these documents will open the doors to discovering many new questions. The continuation of this work is left to young scholars.

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