DOI Heft:
No. 139 (September, 1908)
DOI Artikel:Hungarian art at the Earl's Court exhibition
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28255#0208
Hungarian Art at Earl's Court
recalled, there is reason to wonder at the existence
of any kind of serious artistic conviction among
people to whom the opportunity of cultivating the
gentler arts would seem to have been almost
entirely denied. Yet from the fifteenth century
onwards Hungary has produced artists of marked
ability, and many of them have gained distinction
all- over Europe. But until quite recent times
most of these artists made their successes in foreign
lands. Because apparently opportunities of obtain-
ing due recognition were denied to them at home,
they emigrated to England, France, Germany, Italy,
Russia, and other countries, where they met with
the fullest consideration, and were welcomed as
men of note.
As a consequence, however, of the emigration of
so many of the ablest artists, the development of
art in Hungary itself was appreciably delayed. It
is only within the last fifty years or so that thete
has been the full aesthetic awakening, and that the
actual foundation of what can fairly be called a
national school has been brought about. Now the
country can boast of a considerable array of accom-
plished workers in all the branches of art practice;
it has taken already a place among the artistic
nations which promises as time goes on to become
markedly distinguished, and it is showing an
honest desire to encourage native talent in a
practical and intelligent manner.
For these reasons this exhibition of paintings,
drawings, sculpture, etchings, lithographs, etc., by
Hungarian artists is especially well timed. It
offers to English people a chance of realising with
what sincerity a comparatively new movement is
being conducted in a country which has made a
staunch fight for freedom, and it offers to them
also an opportunity of recognising in a practical
manner the value of the results which have come
from this movement. Much of the work on view
will bear comparison with that produced by the
artists of other nations which have not only
enjoyed far better chances of progress in the arts,
but have as well the advantage of old-established
aesthetic traditions that serve as safeguards against
misdirection of effort.
Not the least of the merits of the collection is
its freedom from anything like conventionality. It
shows no concession to fashion, no formal adher-
ence to prescribed rules, and no set conviction that
there is only-one legitimate manner of working;
“at the forge
190
BY DOME SKUTECZKY
recalled, there is reason to wonder at the existence
of any kind of serious artistic conviction among
people to whom the opportunity of cultivating the
gentler arts would seem to have been almost
entirely denied. Yet from the fifteenth century
onwards Hungary has produced artists of marked
ability, and many of them have gained distinction
all- over Europe. But until quite recent times
most of these artists made their successes in foreign
lands. Because apparently opportunities of obtain-
ing due recognition were denied to them at home,
they emigrated to England, France, Germany, Italy,
Russia, and other countries, where they met with
the fullest consideration, and were welcomed as
men of note.
As a consequence, however, of the emigration of
so many of the ablest artists, the development of
art in Hungary itself was appreciably delayed. It
is only within the last fifty years or so that thete
has been the full aesthetic awakening, and that the
actual foundation of what can fairly be called a
national school has been brought about. Now the
country can boast of a considerable array of accom-
plished workers in all the branches of art practice;
it has taken already a place among the artistic
nations which promises as time goes on to become
markedly distinguished, and it is showing an
honest desire to encourage native talent in a
practical and intelligent manner.
For these reasons this exhibition of paintings,
drawings, sculpture, etchings, lithographs, etc., by
Hungarian artists is especially well timed. It
offers to English people a chance of realising with
what sincerity a comparatively new movement is
being conducted in a country which has made a
staunch fight for freedom, and it offers to them
also an opportunity of recognising in a practical
manner the value of the results which have come
from this movement. Much of the work on view
will bear comparison with that produced by the
artists of other nations which have not only
enjoyed far better chances of progress in the arts,
but have as well the advantage of old-established
aesthetic traditions that serve as safeguards against
misdirection of effort.
Not the least of the merits of the collection is
its freedom from anything like conventionality. It
shows no concession to fashion, no formal adher-
ence to prescribed rules, and no set conviction that
there is only-one legitimate manner of working;
“at the forge
190
BY DOME SKUTECZKY