Lawyer and cultural diplomat Henriett Galambos, head of department, Museum of Fine Arts author: Gellért Rajcsányi Henriett Galambos heads the Legal and Registration Department at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. She grew up in Szeged, though it was a scholarship in England that made her realize what she was really interested in. At the age of 17 she spent a year in a boarding school in the south of […]
Prayer of the impatient gardener El-Hassan Róza a gombostűlétről, Kantról és a megfeszített árnyékról author: Szablyár Eszter She has been a student rebel, has turned a dog into a curator and has given blood at the Belgrade contemporary art museum. Now she has woven a huge exclamation mark on the lake in the City Park. Ten years ago you asked a dog to be a curator. Why was that? It was rather […]
In the wake of Victor Vasarely’s art and spirit Exclusive interview with his grandson author: Orsolya Radványi In the middle of February Pierre Vasarely, president of the Vasarely Foundation based in Aix-en-Provence and Victor Vasarely’s sole heir, paid a brief visit to Budapest to open the exhibition Parisian Cube at the Abigail Gallery and Auction House. The curators of the exhibition asked him to introduce the artists following in his grandfather’s footsteps. […]
Angler by the lake with three rods Péter Baki, director of the Hungarian Museum of Photography, on the international success of Hungarian photography author: Ernő P. Szabó Twentieth-century Hungarian photography enjoys a high international reputation and names such as Brassaï, Capa, Kertész, Munkácsi and Moholy-Nagy are well-known. The Hungarian Museum of Photography in Kecskemét, which was established by the Association of Hungarian Photographers and the former Photographers’ Cooperative, has held several successful exhibitions, though as a museum operated by a foundation its […]
A gallery mostly in metal drawers The Cifrapalota and the Kecskemét Art Gallery author: Nóra Vágvölgyi The town councillors decided to have the Cifrapalota constructed 1901. For economic reasons it was designed to perform different functions on each level. There were shops for rent on the ground floor, the first floor housed society rooms and the Trade Casino’s ceremonial hall (The Peacock Room), while the top floor had apartments. The façade […]
Keeping the maestro’s memory alive Ferenc Liszt’s former apartment in Budapest author: Ádám Sztankay Can a memorial museum recall something of the vitality of a former home? The approach to museums and history on the part of its exhibition organisers must have contributed to the fact that artifice is avoided at the Ferenc Liszt Memorial Museum. At the same time, even the twenty-five years that have passed since its […]
Marbles in exile The New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Part 1 author: Péter György On 6 February 1833 the 17-year-old Otto von Wittelsbach arrived on board a British frigate in Nafplion, the first capital of modern Greece. The Catholic monarch would spend decades in the country. Then following a coup in 1862 he left Greece as he arrived, on board a British warship. He was buried wearing traditional Greek […]
Through the back door Problems of museum storage in Hungary author: Péter Hamvay In the richer parts of the world X-ray, electromagnetic and cooling technologies can help with conservation. In Hungary it’s something good if the temperature can be measured! The storage situation of 33 million items is tragic – many places lack security grills and two-thirds of storerooms are damp. The majority of museums try to remedy […]
“The Russians are coming …” Exhibition in Veszprém’s Lackó Dezső Museum author: Jenő Molnár, historian-museologist, Lackó Dezső Museum On 18 June, the date of the popular Night of Museums, a new temporary exhibition is opening at Veszprém’s Lackó Dezső Museum with the title From Liberation to Deliverance – Looking Back on the 20th Anniversary of the Withdrawal of Soviet Troops. The aim is to show the Soviet army and its soldiers, the individuals, […]
Crossroads – artists in Nagyvárad in the interwar period Exhibition at the Holocaust Memorial Centre author: Beatrix Basics, art historian, curator of the exhibition Belated Homecoming, the first exhibition of the Art in Exile series, opened in the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Páva Street, Budapest, in the spring of 2011. It aimed at rediscovering artists who, due to their origins, were not able to remain in Hungary during the 1920s and 1930s. A second exhibition was planned for spring […]