Szilasi Ágota, H.: Víz - fény-szín-tér. Stílusvariációk egy technikára. Egri Országos Akvarell Biennálé 1968-2004 a Dobó István Vármúzeum kortárs akvarell gyűjteménye (Eger, 2006)
emotions, the most fleeting of moments or the most intimate of feelings. However, by 1975 most of the negative trends had started to fade away and disappear. For this the biennial should take some credit. In 1974, on the recommendation of the town's cultural department, the organization of the biennial became the responsibility of the Castle Museum. It has proved a task the museum has been more than capable of fulfilling. From this point onwards one can detect a very gradual shift away from the official cultural policies and tastes of the time towards work, and indeed a whole way of organizing exhibitions, which reflected more personal and regional interests. The new regulations relating to who could attend the 1974 exhibition meant, as hoped, that the artists of the Young Artists Studio were invited alongside the Northern Hungarian members of the Hungarian Association of Visual Artists. As a result the 1974 exhibition, which was made up of the work of young and middle-aged artists, amounted to an impressive collection. Walking among the works it was possible to sense the conflict between the modern and the more conservative artistic sensibilities, a fact which should be seen as a positive development. However, the choice of works on display incurred the wrath of the most important artistic journal of the day because „by its very definition the Eger Watercolour Biennial doesn't give us what it promises." (Gyula Kovács) Of the pictures on display many were mixed media, using gouache, tempera and watercolour or various combinations of all three. In addition there were also collages and glued applications, and in one or two extreme cases print was used. In 1976, on the basis of the I ist of addresses sent out by the Visual Arts Foundation, the museum was able to open up the exhibition to a greater number of artists. The intention was that in subsequent exhibitions the number of exhibitors would then be able to be restricted depending on the quality of the work submitted. However, of the 1200 works submitted by 241 artists only 144 works by 86 artists actually made it to the exhibition. Subsequently at the fifth biennial only the work of a limited number of artists, whose work displayed a real love of the medium as well as evidence of great creativity, was exhibited, among them: József Bakallár, József Bartl, Kálmán Csohány, István Imre, Ödön Iványi, János Lóránt, József 17
