New impetus needed
Eszter Tamás, Director of the Schöffer Museum, Kalocsa
MúzeumCafé 17.
In the outer part of Szent István Road in the southern Hungarian town of Kalocsa, in a row of one-storey buildings, between a lamp shop and a computer store, there stands an edifice painted in bold colours. The Schöffer Museum is decorated with the characteristic colours – white, black, red and blue – of an artist who chose to emigrate. With its striking appearance the building is differentiated from others on Kalocsa’s main thoroughfare, just as Schöffer’s life and art ended up far from this sleepy small town on the Great Plain – even though at the end of his life his fate brought him back. Miklós Schöffer was born in Kalocsa in 1912 and grew up in the building which today houses the museum with its handful of exhibition rooms. I am led through one dimly-lit space where a modicum of penetrating light glitters on Schöffer’s kinetic sculptures, standing head-high or even taller. As if cut off from the present, I have arrived in another world. In the rear wing of the building I am greeted by a young woman – Eszter Tamás, who was appointed director of the museum in January 2010. To whose memory is this place dedicated? Miklós Schöffer obtained a law degree in Budapest and then studied at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. Abandoning his studies, he went to Paris in 1936 and enrolled in Sabatté’s studio at the National College of Fine Arts. He was active in French artistic life from the end of the 1930s, then in 1949 a fundamental change occurred in his creative work – he gave up painting and turned to sculpture. From then on three main periods can be identified in his art, marked by the dynamics of space, light and time. His works have community-creating functions in that they are a commentary on space, society and public life. His ‘Chronos 8’ cybernetic light tower stands in Kalocsa. Originally it sprang into movement when the traffic got going, then each day would come to a halt. Schöffer’s constructions can be found in places as far apart as Paris, San Francisco and Bonn. Schöffer returned to Hungary for the first time in 1976. The Kalocsa town authorities established the museum in 1980 with works donated by the artist, who always wanted to leave his oeuvre to his birthplace. The first decade of the museum, while Schöffer was still alive, saw many achievements. There were regular seminars with the participation of internationally renown artists, lectures and conferences. Today the collection is no longer well-known, says the new director, though she has some plans of her own. “A museum like this with its collection not only has to play a part in the life of the town, it also has to function as a cultural centre and a space for forming community.” Eszter Tamás regards Schöffer’s French ties as something worth highlighting. The museum has a French-language library, which was established by the artist’s widow, Eleonora. “Could we say,” I ask, “that what can be realised from these plans depends on your personal perseverance?” “Currently there are three of us working in the museum, along with the security guards, but as director I have to shoulder responsibility myself.