Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)
Events 2007
MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS EVENTS 2007 When its exhibition programme for 2007 was being compiled, the guiding idea and belief was that the Museum would be best able to arouse and maintain the interest of its visitors by presenting its own collections, especially the assemblages of artefacts within these collections that were especially worthy of attention. In addition, of course, a place continued to be given in the Museum's programme to those solo and group exhibitions of contemporary work that have long been present in its 'offer': displaying to the general public the professional achievements of applied artists and designers, these shows reflect the latest trends or else sum up oeuvres of particular individuals. In 2007, too, the Esterházy Treasures exhibition, which had opened in December of the previous year, attracted many visitors. Until March the general public could continue to see the twenty-two works of art lent by the Esterházy Private Foundation (Esterházy Privatstiftung) at Eisenstadt, Austria, including six very valuable portraits from the family's gallery of ancestors. The professional recognition accorded to this exhibition, which attracted more visitors than any other, is best indicated by the fact that in October 2007 it won the Opus Mirabile Prize awarded by the Art History Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Among the events held during the 'Night of Museums' on 23 June, it was this show that enjoyed pride of place: following a highly successful festive tour of the exhibition conducted by István Hiller, Hungary's Minister of Education and Culture, hourly tours were given to the accompaniment of music. Later on, the launch took place of Erzsébet Vadászi's book Hungarian Versailles, which dealt with the furniture and fittings of the country houses owned by the Esterházy family. In November, within the framework of the national series of programmes entitled 'Months of Hungarian Science', the organiser of the Esterházy exhibition and the Museum's assistant director for research and exhibitions arranged a series of five lectures by five well-known scholars. The series was entitled Luminaries and the Unsung. Esterházys in the Century of Hungarian Decline. The lectures were given by members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences István Bitskey and Géza Galavics, by the literary historian Pál Acs, and by the art historians Péter Szabó and András Szilágyi. The first exhibition opening of the year took place on 31 January, when, in the Collectors' Showcase, the dance-card collection of Árpád Marton and his wife was displayed on the occasion of the couple's donation to the Museum of approximately 100 of these charming little booklets, most of them made in the 19 th century. At the intimate celebration, a short performance by the Garabonciás Ensemble evoked balls of old, also bringing to life in a humorous manner the moment when names were inscribed on the cards.
