Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 32. (Budapest, 2018)

Edit DARABOS: Blomstermarmor, klistermarmor. Modern Danish endpapers in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts

EDIT DARABOS

BLOMSTERMARMOR, KLISTERMARMOR

MODERN DANISH ENDPAPERS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS'

‘The book, it is quite evident, is playing an important part in the art movement of today; for it was obvious that it must be included in the new scheme of interior decoration which we see developing on every side’,2 wrote Julius Meier-Graefe in his review of the exhibition Livre Modeme, which opened in March 1896 in Siegfried ‘Samuel’ Bing’s Parisian gallery La Maison de [’Art Nouveau. The exhibition became important in the later assessment of artistic bookbinding, since it drew bookbinding— not least as an all-embracing artform—into the orbit of the emerging applied arts movement, emphasizing its important role in the development of aesthetic sensibilities as well as the equivalence of its artistic power to that of other branches of applied art. The unique bindings of William Morris’s Kelmscott Press and those of the English and Scottish bookbinding societies and presses that followed him (Guild and School of Handicraft founded by Charles Robert Ashbee, Guild of Women Binders, Essex House Press and Oxford University Press) served as direct examples for book artists in continental Europe, including Danish artists.3 The bindings, Art Nouveau in style with exquisite gold-tooled and leather inlays, became exhibition objects, proving hugely popular with viewers.4

In his article, Meier-Graefe highlighted the Danish and Belgian works from among

the French, German, Italian, English, American, Belgian and Danish bindings in Bing’s gallery. He praised the high quality materials and superb gilding as well as the modern appearance of the bindings: ‘All these works show the true modern spirit, the artist working in the old style upon new motives, and they can safely challenge comparison with the best of the productions of bygone days.’5 Prior to the Paris exhibition of 1896, the society of Danish book artists had participated in several international shows, successfully exhibiting in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and Exposition internationale du livre et des industries du papier in Paris in 1894 (both events to be discussed later in this study). At the 1896 exhibition, the Danish artists received a certificate of commendation and their reputation only grew over the years. Of the Danish applied arts at the turn of the century, ceramics and book art reaped the greatest success and were the best known among an international audience.6 In his discussion of the Paris exhibition of 1896, Meier-Graefe mentions the Danish designers Thorvald Bindesboll, Hans Tegner and Gerhard Heilmann as well as the bookbinder Anker Kyster of Copenhagen, who did the actual binding.7 When discussing the bindings, the author describes in the greatest detail the gold-tooled morocco

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