Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)

Zsolt SOMOGYI: An Adaptable Applied Artist. Pál Horti's American Furniture

4. Magazine Stand (no. 336.) from inheritance of Horti's widow. Private Collection, Budapest. Photo by György Kaczúr ation. With its simple block-like form, its copper face and its inlay work, the freestanding clock is similarly a magnificent element in the suite. Among Horti's surviving plans, we find a newspaper rack likewise designed in 1905 in New York (the catalogue does not contain a piece of this kind) on which the tulip inlay of the library suite can be observed.

12 Accordingly, the library pieces can be dated to 1905. Similarly designed by Horti for the library suite was the armchair published by Magyar Iparművészet as the third of the designs intended for Onken.'

3 A piece of furniture similar to that in a drawing accompanied by the inscription 'Morris Chair - Library Suit / for The Oscar Onken Co. / Cincinnati' is likewise not to be found in the firm's catalogue. On every piece in the collection we can find one or other of the types of inlay - published in Magyar Iparművészet and identifiable with help of the above-mentioned furniture drawings - that were designed by Horti. However, in this regard also the two suites differ from one another: On the dining-room pieces we can see eight-petal flowers supplemented by a grille pattern, while on the library ones we encounter four-petal flowers and tulips, to which is connected a pattern constructed from lines. On some of the artefacts, the designer has, as an additional embellishment, fitted round glass beads into square metal plates. The plates are made from copper and the glass beads are green. The adjective 'Mission', which often occurs in the names given to the different pieces of furniture, needs some explanation in Europe. Art historians in the United States use this word primarily to describe the Baroque style that appeared in the southern territories under the influence of the Spanish conquerors. However, when used in connection with the American Arts & Crafts movement, the term has another meaning. From the 18

th century onwards there lived in the northeastern territories significant nonCatholic immigrant communities that in Europe had been considered too radical even by the reformers and that had often been persecuted there. Perhaps the best known among these Protestant groups were the Amish people originally from Switzerland who still live in closed communities, and the Shakers (Shaking Quakers), who came from the British Isles. Strict Puritan lifestyle and simplicity extended also to their everyday objects for use, and the forms and structures