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

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

the designer of the embellishments. On the basis of drawings published in the journal Magyar Iparművészet - and of his oeuvre - we can, however, safely assert that Horti not only contributed to the success of the Oscar Onken concern with his motifs, but also designed a significant amount of that enterpnse's furniture. Research conducted at the Cincinnati Main Public Library has confirmed that Onken, who was of German descent, greatly prized Horti's work, as a result of which the Hungarian artist was able to play an important role in the work of the Shop of the Crafters. As well as the firm's catalogue, two 'flyers' - advertisements - are preserved in the Main Library.

23 One is a small booklet. In an inscription on its title page 'Professor Paul Horti' features as the Austrian government's representative in St. Louis: 'The Crafters are now making some complete Dining Room and Library Sets of Austrian Design in complementary arrangement by Prof. Horti Authorized Representative of the Austrian Goverment at St. Louis World's Fair Exhibit 1904.' Behind this we may suspect business considerations: representatives of the Viennese Secession were presumably known in the United States also, unlike Hungarian applied artists. On the inside of the cover, which folds out, a photograph of Horti catches our eye. In a text explaining the firm's work and objectives, the reader is reminded of the dining room and installations by Horti that were exhibited at the world exposition: 'His Dining Room at the St. Louis Fair, and the decoration of the Hungarian sections in the Palace of Fine Arts Building Manufacturer's Building and Mines and Metallurgy Building, which were all his suggestions, struck a note so loud and harmonious that it can never be forgotten. ' Furthermore, the reader is told of the recognition achieved by Horti at international exhibitions and in Hungary: 'He has received the highest honors in his own country, including Knighthood in the Francis Joseph Order and the Crown Order, an honor conferred by King Victor Emanuel himself. J.

. .J In his own country, as well as in London, Paris, Turin (Italy) and America he has received Gold Medals and Grand Prizes' Inside the little booklet, we can read the findings of a kind of public opinion research. The Shop of the Crafters had asked its customers to write their opinions about the factory's products. Extracts from letters sent in from almost every American state, and even from Canada and Mexico, between November 1904 and June 1905 were published in it. The dates indicate that the company was operating and selling its furniture as early as the second half of 1904. The role of the other flyer was to show with the help of small, thin samples - the types of wood used by the Shop of the Crafters for its furniture (mahogany and eleven types of oak: Weathered, Flemish, Tavern, Cathedral, Fumed, Bog, Old English, Early English, Austrian, Antwerp, and Golden Oak; the question is whether these were different types of timber or 8. Cover of the catalogue of the Shop of the Crafters, 1906. Main Public Library Cincinnati and Hampton County. Rare Books Room, no. 749.097717 S559 1906