Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 31. (Budapest, 2017)
Zsombor JÉKELY: The Museum of Applied Arts in 2016
considered to belong to the most outstanding figures of design history, only few of his works are owned by Hungarian public collections. That is why it is of special importance that facing its reconstruction, the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts made the public acquainted with this new acquisition and its designer with this large-scale exhibition and a series of accompanying events. Several interesting circumstances related to the conference table and to pieces of the famous tubular furniture, inspired by the designer’s first bicycle, have been revealed and showed to the public. In addition, the exhibition shows office furnishings of seven contemporaneous architects and designers who Breuer might have had connections to as an architect or alert participant in the life of the community of Hungarian architects. The pieces of furniture by Farkas Molnár, József Fischer, Lajos Kozma, Virgil Bierbauer, Gyula Kaesz, Zsuzsa Kovács, and László Wágner and archival documents of their career all prove Breuer’s influence on modern Hungarian interior and furniture design. Photos of office interiors, plans and models help the public to get an inside view of the process of planning, the everyday life of designers and—last but not least—of the milieu of architects. The exhibition is accompanied by expert and subjective guided tours, round-table discussions, workshops and interesting museum educational programs. (Fig. 3) Exhibitions abroad and significant loans Herend Porcelain from Hungary Fukuyama City Museum of Art (Hiroshima), 16 April -19June2016 Niitsu Art Museum (Niigata), 20 August - 23 October 2016 Further venues in Japan during 2017-2018 Curator: Gabriella Balla. Realized in cooperation with Art Impressions (Tokyo) The Hungarian Herend Porcelain Manufactory, well-known and acknowledged all over the world, celebrated the 190th anniversary of its foundation in 2016. On this occasion, a new exhibition was developed by the Museum of Applied Arts, in cooperation with Japanese exhibition organizer Art Impressions. Drawing mainly on the holdings of the Museum of Applied Arts, the exhibition also includes select objects from the Hungarian National Museum, the Herend Porcelain Museum Foundation and from Hungarian private collections. For several decades the Japanese public has shown a vivid interest in Hungarian porcelain art. That is why in 1993 and in 2000-2001 a series of exhibitions was organized in Japan in cooperation with the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts in order to make the Japanese public acquainted with Hungarian porcelain. The aim of the current exhibition is not to repeat the earlier shows but to present new aspects of the Herend production to the educated Japanese connoisseurs and to experts and collectors of European porcelain art. Porcelain has always been the noblest means of artistic expression in the Far East. In Europe—besides its artistic value—the research of its aspects of cultural history was characteristic; that is why we aimed at their presentation. The twofold character of the art of He- rend porcelain is rooted in European and Far Eastern porcelain art. It drew its forms and ornaments from these two sources and 167
