Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)
Ildikó PANDUR: Links between the Oeuvres of Ödön Lechner and Gyula Jungfer
ILDIKÓ PANDÚR LINKS BETWEEN THE OEUVRES OF ODON LECHNER AND GYULA JUNGFER ÖDÖN LECHNER'S PLAN FOR A WROUGHT IRON SHOWCASE TO EXHIBIT PRINTS Ödön Lechner was not among the many architects who had close contracts with Gyula Jungfer. As far as we know, their cooperation was restricted to some furnishing objects for the Museum of Applied Arts after the inauguration of the building in 1896: "a brass letter box of a Hungarian atmosphere" 1 and a candelabrum 2 on the staircase rails at the Hőgyes Endre street portal. More recent research findings, however, may provide addenda to the above statement, although not in architecture but in decorative arts, and may bring Gyula Jungfer closer to Ödön Lechner and give a more shaded picture of Lechner as a designer. Among the disciplines of applied arts, furniture design is considered as being closest attached to architecture. Documents in the Archives of the Museum of Fine Arts 3 reveal that Ödön Lechner designed a special piece of furniture "for the National Picture Gallery" in 1892. The director of the Picture Gallery of Budapest, Károly Pulszky asked Lechner personally to design iron cases (also tagged exhibiting iron tables, "desk stands"). 4 (Another fact about the relationship of the two persons: both were members of the Society of Writers and Artists founded in 1874 "for the strengthening of the national identity" as one of the goals, which also initiated the creation of a historical portrait gallery.) 5 Several tenders were invited for the execution of the design. The price bid by metalsmith Sándor Árkay 6 was for 110 tables of two types with adjustable glazed tops that could be locked with "roll-shutters" made of ribbed steel plates. After the presentation of a sample piece Gyula Jungfer's bid to produce the tables for 102 florins per piece was accepted, (fig. 1) The contract was signed on 28 May 1893/ The contract spells out that a showcase was "to rest on two coloured stands that 1. Calculation to the producing of the iron showcases for graphics of the National Picture Gallery , compiled by Gyula Jungfer, 1893 (MAA Archive ) 93
