DOI Heft:
No. 162 (September, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Melani, Alfredo: Hungarian art at the Milan exhibition
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20715#0327
Hungarian Art at the Milan Exhibition
PANEL IN BAS-RELIEF FOR A MUSIC ROOM
BY ED. TELCS
to a certain archaeological torpor, which does not
live in the world of our personal emotions.
The intelligent visitor in the Hungarian section
at Milan is indeed surprised to find a certain
Byzantine or Turkish aspect not only in the decora-
tive portion of the galleries, but also in some of the
smaller objects exhibited. And at first he asks
himself whether this type of aesthetic expression
can really take rank among modern productions,
although it is no question of commonplace servile
imitation, but one of natural spontaneous inspira-
tion, almost amounting to a deliberate revival on
the part of a generation of artists who combine
patriotism with art. For this Hungarian life, these
traditions, these customs have their origin in Byzan-
tine life. Byzantium was the first home of the
Hungarian artists, who afterwards, precisely at the
time of the Renaissance, revived their art in that
old Italy which was the admiration of the great
Corvin.
It is good to see that the Hungarian artists ot
to day, far from rejuvena-
ting themselves on the
ancient Italian forms, have
dipped into the Middle
Ages, into that Byzantinism
which is more rich in inspi-
ration than the Italian
Renaissance, and on the
ethnic warp of its people,
on the Turkish origin of
its constitution, have em-
broidered the flowers of
their art, in order once
more to affirm the inefface-
able characteristics of their
race. The Hungarian
artist, particularly the deco-
3°6
rator, depends for his forms of national beauty on
popular inspiration. Hence comes the Turco-
Byzantine character of the Hungarian section at
Milan ; hence that spirit of independence which
reveals itself at times in certain artists to a degree
higher than that seen in others, without, however, in-
flicting humiliation on the most modest exhibitor.
For these exhibits depend more on feeling than on
form, and a sort of traditional atmosphere prevails
throughout the Hungarian interior, which has its
pathetically poetical as well as its vivacious side.
The poetry is found there where the Byzantine
spirit moves the imagination of the decorator; the
vivacity comes in where the Turkish play of colour
has the upper hand.
I do not wish to deny—let it be well understood
—the colour force of Byzantinism, but desire
simply to point out that the artists figuring in this
exhibition, in their Byzantine impulse, have aban-
doned the polychrome harmonies on a gold ground
which form the basis of the mosaics of St. Sophia,
vases executed by zsolnay de pecs
PANEL IN BAS-RELIEF FOR A MUSIC ROOM
BY ED. TELCS
to a certain archaeological torpor, which does not
live in the world of our personal emotions.
The intelligent visitor in the Hungarian section
at Milan is indeed surprised to find a certain
Byzantine or Turkish aspect not only in the decora-
tive portion of the galleries, but also in some of the
smaller objects exhibited. And at first he asks
himself whether this type of aesthetic expression
can really take rank among modern productions,
although it is no question of commonplace servile
imitation, but one of natural spontaneous inspira-
tion, almost amounting to a deliberate revival on
the part of a generation of artists who combine
patriotism with art. For this Hungarian life, these
traditions, these customs have their origin in Byzan-
tine life. Byzantium was the first home of the
Hungarian artists, who afterwards, precisely at the
time of the Renaissance, revived their art in that
old Italy which was the admiration of the great
Corvin.
It is good to see that the Hungarian artists ot
to day, far from rejuvena-
ting themselves on the
ancient Italian forms, have
dipped into the Middle
Ages, into that Byzantinism
which is more rich in inspi-
ration than the Italian
Renaissance, and on the
ethnic warp of its people,
on the Turkish origin of
its constitution, have em-
broidered the flowers of
their art, in order once
more to affirm the inefface-
able characteristics of their
race. The Hungarian
artist, particularly the deco-
3°6
rator, depends for his forms of national beauty on
popular inspiration. Hence comes the Turco-
Byzantine character of the Hungarian section at
Milan ; hence that spirit of independence which
reveals itself at times in certain artists to a degree
higher than that seen in others, without, however, in-
flicting humiliation on the most modest exhibitor.
For these exhibits depend more on feeling than on
form, and a sort of traditional atmosphere prevails
throughout the Hungarian interior, which has its
pathetically poetical as well as its vivacious side.
The poetry is found there where the Byzantine
spirit moves the imagination of the decorator; the
vivacity comes in where the Turkish play of colour
has the upper hand.
I do not wish to deny—let it be well understood
—the colour force of Byzantinism, but desire
simply to point out that the artists figuring in this
exhibition, in their Byzantine impulse, have aban-
doned the polychrome harmonies on a gold ground
which form the basis of the mosaics of St. Sophia,
vases executed by zsolnay de pecs