Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: Félbeszakadt prófécia Lantos Ferenc zománcművészeti alkotásai 1967-1976 (Kecskemét, 2006)

THE INTERRUPTED PROPHECY

worked there once, it nevertheless happened right there in Kecskemét, basically due to the great influence of the art director Mihály Kátai, that contemporary Hungarian enamel art turned into a completely different direction.11 However, beyond the style and artistic direction, it was from a practical point of view much more important that, right in Bonyhád, the architect Zoltán Erdélyi proposed a somewhat Utopian idea of considering enamel covers as potential structural and aesthetical elements in light construction structures. As we have seen in the case of enamel friezes Lantos has taken this challenge seriously.

In the further two sub-groups of the mural - public space works it is experimentation that dominates. One of them could be called as "space element studies". The most important of the 1968-1971 experimental works are the so-called "Tettye space elements" the basic unit of which are always the so-called "Small and Large tulips" [colorplates 33-34]. Always the same motif is shown on the black base steel-plate quadratic shapes, sized 45x45 and 97x97 centimetres, respectively. Apart from a few cases, the "Tulip" always contains the same elements: a downward pointed arrow that starts from the combination of the half of a simple square-circle (sometimes omitted]; an also downward pointing triangle containing the two previous forms; and finally an upward pointed tulip flower-cup containing the whole. The Tulips differ only in the colour combination and most of the variations are based on four different colours. It is quite obvious to see the similarities between the Tulips and Dezső Korniss' late period "Coat motifs"11 12 [1968-1975] but one could also refer here to contemporary works by István Nádler, Imre Bak and János Fájó. The last two artists were mentioned earlier as, upon Lantos's invitation, they have worked with him in Bonyhád in 1972. Moreover in a varying set up, with the exception of Fajó, they had shows together with Lantos in the 1969 SZÜRENON exhibition and in 1970 in the "R" Club of the Budapest University of Technology. This is how they have learned about each other's works:

11. Cf.: Gyergyádesz, L. Jr.: Kortárs zománcművészetünkről. In Hungarian. In: Tűzzománcművészek Magyar Társasága. 2000. évi katalógus. Ed.: Morvay, L. Budapest, 2000; Gyergyádesz L. Jr.: Kortárs magyar zománcművészet - Ungarische Emailkunst der Gegenwart - L'Emaillerie hongroise contemporaine. Catalogue. Kecskeméti Képtár, Kecskemét, 1998 (with further references)

12. Cf.: Hegyi, L: Korniss Dezső. Corvina Kiadó, In Hungarian. Budapest, 1982. pp. 145-152.

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