Hann Ferenc (szerk.): Érmek és majdnem-érmek. Szentendrei szobrászok kiállítása a Képtárban 1994. április 7 - 25. (Szentendre, 1994)
MEDALS AND QUASI-MEDALS FROM SZENTENDRE For what is a medal? This exhibition is intended to reveal what pieces of traditional medal art were produced in Szentendre which make it impossible to relate Hungarian medal art without mentioning Szentendre medallists; and to point out how these artists contributed to broadening the limits of the genre. The character of the artist might be manifested in the medal just as well as in other genres of art, although the form has its own specificities. For one thing, in case of applied medals, the demands if the commissioner are of primary importance. But even among the most restricted circumstances it becomes clear how much the artist has become aware of the possibilities inherent in the genre (see Széchenyi by Ervin Páljános). And if the comissioner demands a symbolic representation of the tropic, the medal is going to show the artist’s capacity of visualization. Of course, a medallist is freest when he can work az he pleases because he wants to articulate a given artistic idea. The medallist activity of György Holdas is fully characterized by this standpoint. Gábor Matyó(falvi)’s series of coins point out how diverse formats money has taken in the course of human history before becoming a medal. It is yet to be decided wether Zoltán Szentirmai’s sketch for the contest to commemorate 1956 may be regarded as a medal, for the model version has already become a relief and it would have been turned into a mural. In Ádám Farkas’ series of medals the starting point is a plastic problem which is in given case best to be analyzed in the form of a medal. The meeting of geometrical and organic forms in the view of the buildings in the valley (The Alps IV.) is just one version of the problem manifested in most his works. The same plastic problem is related in the palm-size medal and the fathom-long relief as well as the wall-size mural. One of the Szentendre medallists to the backbone, Róbert Csíkszentmihályi, made medais only for commissions in the last ten years. What a pity, if we consider how vital works were produced in his personal series, like Run! (1982), in which he called attention to human defenselessness (with the target pointer aimed to man). Ligeti Erika, on the other hand, uses all the her moments of inspiration to produce medals. She, however, light-heartedly disregards conventions, and makes pedestals for her medals or gives them a quadrangular form. Tamás Asszonyi seems to model a medal or something like that even instead of writing a letter: such works made for special occasions include Christmas greetings and invitations for the opening of his shows. The evolution towards small sculptures is just as natural for him as for his colleagues. Beauty in the 20th century grand art ceased to be a determinant. The human demand of beauty, however, lives on, so applied art forms cannot exist without it. Thus the medal which is also an applied art form despite its indubitable autonomy often satisfies the artist’s and the commissioner’s or viewer’s demand of beauty. The loose limitations of medal art prevent it from becoming a domain of the light muse. The unambiguous tone of real medals demand a high level conceptional and plastic compactness. Thus the medal is an aphorism of sculpture. March, 1994 Bálint Chikán
