In the footsteps of the Buda Castle Tapestry Workshop
MúzeumCafé 7.
To mark the 60th birthday of Ildikó Dobrányi (1948-2007), a memorial exhibition is being held in the Saint Adalbert building of the Christian Museum, Esztergom. In the 1970s, following Noémi Ferenczy, an energetic generation resurrected Hungarian tapestry. Applying the haut-lisse technique of French Gobelin workshops, Dobrányi and friends recreated a genre and in 1990 established a ‘guild’, the Association of Hungarian Tapestry Artists. The Saint Stephen tapestry in 2000 was the guild’s first work. It is held by the Christian Museum and can be seen at the exhibition. It is fortunate that curator Ildikó Kontsek has exhibited it alongside other works by Dobrányi, since you can ponder whether a work created collectively or an individually designed and woven tapestry is more valuable. Members of the Association themselves design and weave their own works, which is Noémi Ferenczy’s most honourable legacy. Association members are currently working at home, preparing for the next exhibition to show their Corvin tapestry in the Hungarian National Museum. Tapestry artist, Ida Lencsés is the new president. Tapestries by Dobrányi augment the collections of the Applied Arts Museum, Christian Museum, National Széchényi Library and the Szombathely Picture Gallery, but the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment, the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Berlin and the Miskolc base of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences also hold her works. The Ildikó Dobrányi Memorial Committee has been formed by her colleagues. They have published a catalogue in Hungarian and English to accompany the present exhibition.