Kovács Zita - Bálint Attila : Az Éber-Emlékház. Id. Éber Sándor, ifj. Éber Sándor és Éber Anna művészete - A Bajai Türr István Múzeum kiadványai 28. (Baja, 1999)
Sándor Éber, however, was not entirely happy just teaching. The influence of Bertalan Székely, his former master, did not weaken in him during his years in Baja. In 1906, he painted his first fresco onto the wall of one of the classrooms of the teacher training college with the title Art Education. From the 1910s, he painted a number of monumental murals-frescos and seccos-in a decorative style combining Art Nouveau with popular Hungarian elements. His commissions came mostly from churches and orders. He worked in the lounge of the Cistercian cloister in Baja (1910) as well as in a number of churches in the area ranging from Szászvár (1913), Hajós (1916-17) and Hercegszántó (1924) to the Franciscan church of Nagykanizsa (1927) and the church of Kelebia (1929); his works adorn the aula of Baja's Béla III Secondary School (1932), the church of the Franciscans in Pécs (1933), the church of Bácsborsód (1934), Baja's downtown (1938) and Józsefváros churches (1943), the church of Tolna (1939) and Baja's Rókus Funeral Chapel. During his life, he adorned the walls of 22 churches and schools with his murals, including the facade of the Csátalja elementary school. Besides his monumental works of art and the related sketches and color studies, he also made numerous smaller panel pictures, landscapes, portraits and figurai compositions. His works of art reflected the beauty of the fertile lands of Bácska and of the flood-plains of the Danube, recorded the intimate details of the faces, homes and gardens of the people in these lands as the very parts of this landscape, glorified the delicate features of his wife, and immortalized his loved ones, family members and artist friends. For the young teacher, settling in Baja inevitably meant breaking away from the art life of Budapest. Nevertheless, he worked with unparalleled dynamism and resilience. He painted and taught, while also taking foreign study trips, for example to Rome and Florence. In the two rooms overlooking the street, the visitor can see the works of art of Sándor Éber, Sr. In the first room, the visitor finds a bust in gypsum, a half-length portrait of his wife Julianna Bartsch, daughter of Samu Bartsch, biologist and director of the teacher training college. Éber sculpted the portrait in 1909, during his study trip to Rome. During this trip, Éber also made another sculpture, one of the first of all the portraits of his wife, which is probably one of the artist's most beautiful works of art with its warm tones and delicate materiality. He also painted numerous portraits of his wife, the mother of his children, who, as an understanding and helping partner, took most of the problems of the big family upon herself. They had seven children. His home, his studio - the Éber House - was considered one of the art centers of Baja's cultural life. After concerts, the first room, which overlooks Jókai street, was witness to many a spirited evening conversation. On these 20
