Gömöry Judit – Veszprémi Nóra - Szücs György szerk.: A Művészház 1909–1914, Modern kiállítások Budapesten (A Magyar Nemzeti galéria kiadványai 2009/2)

FÜGGELÉK - András Zwickl: "The House of Modern Art"

It was at this time, in 1913, that the Artists' House reached in zenith. Its exhibition openings became social events, where important figures of cultural life made appearances. Vernissages were often attended by ministerial counsellor Elek Korongi Lippich, departmental counsellor Pál Majovszky, mayor István Bárczy, and the director of the Museum of Fine Arts Gábor Térey. "Representing the cultural minister," under-secretaries of state opened several of the shows - most frequently Viktor Molnár and Sándor Náray-Szabó, and, in the February of 1914, the future cultural minister Count Kuno Klebelsberg. Though invited several times, cultural minister Count János Zichy fulfilled only one request, probably undertaking to open the fifth group exhibition because works by notabilities such as Count Lipót Edelsheim-Gyulai and Vicomte Charles Fontenay were also on show. His successor, Béla Jankovich, opened the exhibition of the Viennese Kunstlerhaus. The society regularly arranged banquets celebrating notable artists, such as József Rippl-Rónai and Pál Szinyei Merse; but dinners were given in honour of foreign artists visiting in Hungary and artists prized at various exhibitions. The activities of the Artists' House were not limited to organizing displays and sales of artworks. Its variegated programme included lectures from its inception. Within a few months of its establishment, it organised readings, where noteworthy art critics, writers and actresses appeared. Parallel to the Impressionist show, whole series of lectures were held by seminal minds of the period. In June 1910, Béla Balázs spoke of The Evolution of Musical Beauty, after which the pianist Imre Balabán gave a concert of works by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály among others. The Artists' House often had musical events on its programme. Zsófia Dénes recalled the January 1912 show of the Neukunstgruppe in the following way: "Then the piano music of Schönberg rang out. He himself played his pieces; his music had such a revolutionary tone, as though it were giving voice to the pictures of Kokoschka. It was mysterious music; it was the first time we heard it." Several concerts were included in the programme for the autumn of 1913, the first one was given by the Waldbauer-Kerpely Quartet. In the February of 1914, three young female singers and musicians appeared on Artists' House stage. During the Bund Exhibition, the Artists' House organised a "musical matinee" and even a "model revue", where, "following the example of Poiret, the Viennese workshop, returning from a foreign tour, presented its own collection on the bodies of beautiful mannequins to the spectators invited." The expansion of the activities of the Artists' House can be traced in other areas, too. It attempted to publish an art magazine of its own in 1910 already, but Modern Művészet (Modern Art), which was meant to have been a monthly, came out only once. However, there were several magazines that were associated with it, such as Aurora, which was published in 1911, and the first three numbers of which had advertisements and articles reporting on the Artists' House shows - in the beginning, members received it free of charge. The Sopron-based Kultúra, containing a wealth of reproductions of and articles on Artists' House exhibitions, was sent to members as the official organ of the society. Closely linked to the society, the Interieur was launched in January 1912, with Miklós Rózsa and secretary of the society, Elemér Kónyay, among its contributors. It turns out from the articles it published that the editor, Béla Kovács, had an instrumental role in bringing about the Bund Exhibition, and it also regularly covered the Artists' House shows and reprinted reproductions from its catalogues. In the November of 1912, the Artists' House produced yet another magazine of its own. The editor-in-chief of the Szabad Művészet (Free Art) was Miklós Rózsa, but it was in fact a mutation, a little-changed reprint of the Interieur, The five numbers it managed to issue - changing its name to Új Művészet (New Art) from the third number - ran parallel (with a little delay) to the double issues of the Interieur, and though it focussed primarily on the Artists' House and the Artists' Club, it reported on the Art Hall, the National Salon, the major figures of modern Hungarian art, The Eight, or Josef Hoffman. The graphic layout of these publications, especially their cover designs, are telling markers of changes the society went through. The first simple emblem was changed in 1911, and though the major elements of the original - the inscription (Artists' House Art Society), the year number 1909 and the three shields symbolizing art - were never removed, the increasingly decorative signs attest the influence of Hungarian Art Nouveau using folklore motifs. This modern formal language was used in catalogues, invitation cards, posters, letterheads, and even the publications of the Artists' Club. Yet again, the autumn of 1913 brought about another change in the history of the society. It introduced a new enterprise that was not included in the 1909 articles of association. Having successfully accomplished the "objectives of the society" under Article 2 - foundation of country sections, organisation of exhibitions, establishment of a permanent art fair, arranging art lectures, publishing art magazines, awarding prizes -, the Artists' House founded its own free school of art, which was led at first by Károly Kernstok, József Rippl-Rónai and János Vaszary. The exhibition season began with the usual unjuried show, which was followed by an abundantly multi-faceted display of applied-art works, but, after this, an even more interesting turn took place in the exhibition policy of the Artists' House. The backdrop of this might very 262 A N D R A S Z W I C K I.