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The world treats us lavishly, and we are foolishly wasting its treasures away. At the dawn of the 21st century, spell-bound by comfort and artificial impulses, following the mercantile order of "Use it and throw it away!", we do not even notice that we have been making our environment increasingly uninhabitable. Rubbish - also in a broader context - is slowly becoming one of the major characteristics of our civilisation. And yet there is a different way. But to follow that, we must learn to see again. In this age of heedless speed, to preserve our childhood creativity and save - what is more, animate - objects proclaimed to be useless is the privilege of but a few. During our visits to destinations across the world, it is with admiration mixed with jealousy that we see efforts made at establishing museums and enriching art collections, as well as the visible results and the good this does to the public. At our quarters, it is a rare phenomenon to find someone building a house, a home, a museum for his existing art collection - and thereby contribute to the common good. By having established the First Hungarian Image Gallery, art collector Ákos Vörösváry and his friends seem to be harbingers of a new era. Following decades of caring, loving, as well as self-denying work, the gallery that was opened on July 28th, 1997 is unique in its kind. Although its task and mission is the collection, exhibition and preservation of works of fine art, the establishment does not call itself a museum. "We are not trying to provide our visitors with just a pleasurable experience, i.e. at least not in the bourgeois sense of the word. What we are aiming at is an enhancement of the recognition of the "pleasure of seeing", thereby awakening the appetite of the eyes, and through them the appetite of the intellect"— stands in Catalogue 1, issued by the First Hungarian Image Gallery Foundation in 1991. Because, justifiably concerned about the shortfalls of domestic visual culture, eight good friends (partly themselves artists) jotted down their dreams, desires and goals during the late winter months of 1990, - at the same time when the Vörösváry private collection was turned into a foundation. "The Foundation wishes to work for the wide-spread appreciation of a visual culture, characterised by an active participation, a creative imagination, an intellectual independence and a lack of prejudice on the side of the viewer". I.e., "activity, creativity, independence... And the result of all this is good taste — an ability to separate the true from the false". The endeavours of the founders to fill the "visual desert, at the depth of which most of our children live helplessly and abandoned" with content can now take new dimensions. As those of us who in the past two decades had the opportunity to meet Vörösváry the art collector and saw one of the 22 different, thematic exhibitions he organised in Budapest, Eger, Tihany, Pécs, etc., and could experience his rather unorthodox attitude, well, those of us have been waiting for the birth of the Image Gallery for long. But also those, who without any previous knowledge chance to come to Diszel, to this picturesque little village of the Balaton Highlands with its 800 inhabitants, a couple of kilometres away from the town of Tapolca, and, following the blue-painted signs saying "Image Gallery" suddenly find themselves facing a white-washed building, providing a neutral background to the periodically-changing landscape around it, are equally fortunate. The not so long ago ruinous mill, neighbouring the local church and the local pub, has been resurrected like the Arabian bird, thanks to a lucky coincidence, - although it is perhaps more appropriate to talk about the workings of fate. The landscape and the village seem both to have accepted the new institution, which in a very short time became a forum for not only the small local, but a much larger community. The building itself is characterised by noble simplicity. A small sign by the entrance contains a piece of compact information: "The former Stankovits Mill has been reconstructed by the First Hungarian Image Gallery in 1990-97, according to the designs of architect Péter Mújdricza." And the inside is like the outside... once the visitor has experienced the magic of either the working- or the holiday, once he has savoured the taste of the name, -which is festive, patinated and playful at the same time, - he is ready for the experience, for leaving his bad habits behind, and now not only to watch, but also see. Because the visitor is met by an unusual atmosphere. Everything radiates with the idyllic unity of the profane and the sacred; the space seems to draw one into it unnoticed. The multi-facetedness of the vision, the noble simplicity of the auxiliary solutions of interior design, the puritan elegance of the white-washed walls or of the open timber roof touch deep cords in the very first minutes, while the beauty and richness of the details opens up only slowly and gradually as one is moving further and further inside. |
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The walls and the small set-backs are comfortably occupied by objects: works of art and objects accidentally discovered; former utensils and the avant-garde here live in peaceful cohabitation. By side of the works of well- or lesser-known contemporary fine artists, objects created by unknown 19th-20th century authors; placards, oleograhps, as well as different utensils from urban and county life, are exhibited. The exhibition entitled "Bread and Rose to Everybody", on show until summer next year, is nothing less than the ars poetica of Ákos Vörösváry and the Foundation. And let us now take our time and have a look at a certainly very long list of names, containing every one of the artists, as the backbone of the exhibition is given by works of art created by Margit Anna, Márton Barabás, Mária Berhidi, Péter Donáth, Miklós Ganczaugh and his wife Katalin Albert (who are both founders and active sponsors of the Image Gallery), as well as by István Gondos, Endre Hortobágyi, Cecília Kacsoh, Ilona Keserű, Imre Kéri, Béla Kondor, Gyula Konkoly, Dezső Korniss, Jenő Lévay, László Mátyássy, Lóránt Méhes, Gábor O. Papp, Antal Pázmándy, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Béla Raffay and Dávid Raffay, the SI-LA-GI living in Sweden, or Siskov Ludmil, temporary resident in Hungary, or by Győző Somogyi, Róbert Świerkiewicz, György Szegő, György Szemadám, Zsuzsa Szenes, Balázs Vincze, Sándor Zoltán and at last but not least by Ákos Vörösváry. And turning around, one sees real visual titbits inserted everywhere, that all serve to make the visual impression a complex one. E.g., right by the entrance, one encounters "a full-blooded folkloristic, socio-realistic shepherd’s wood-carving"(Image 8). While trying to make out this inscription | ||
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— BREAD AND ROSE TO EVERYBODY —one would suspect this to be a citation, yet the above line is only spiritually related to the world of the poets Petofi or Ady. The pair of tulips or roses that are blossoming on it was the dream and desire of a tight, suffocating age. The title-giving object of the exhibition, this "utensil with the details of an object of piety", is a combing mirror. It was signed by Vince Lóki..." The mirror was taken up into the collection around ten years ago, and although the architect Péter Mújdricza mentioned it both in his opening speech to the exhibition that was entitled A May Dance of Sculptures as well as in the catalogue to the same, (Pécs, House of Art, May 1994; Tata, Kuny Domonkos Museum, July 1995), this is the first time it is also displayed. These so-called "border-cases" are seldom taken up into collections committed to " grand art", and the same is true for other works of art evoking the era of the 1950s and the '60s. Yet the small terracotta statuette in the window-seat, entitled Working Class Family (Image 4), or the placards beneath it, are documents of an age and carriers of ideas just as well as their luckier and artistically more valuable counterparts, that represent more than the era that created them. The objects, installations and environments overspan a much larger unit, both in space and in time. A proof of this is the homage-like presence of Joseph Beuys (1921—1986), who revolutionised 20th century art. The truth of the statement made by this outstanding personality of German avant-garde, i.e. "Everybody can be an artist", seems to be demonstrated by this exhibition. His usage of materials, so different from conventions, found a home in this mill, where bread and rose, i.e. the food of body and soul, appear in countless different shapes. It cannot be pure coincidence that Sándor Pinczehelyi (who has repeatedly utilised the symbol of bread in his pop-art inspired prints) gave the title "Our Daily Bread" to his installation of 1974, the very same title that Antal Pázmándy gave to his 1983, ironic, coloured ceramic sculpture, and Márton Barabás to his 1986 and Ákos Vörösváry to his 1997 object, - all, by the way, in astounding spiritual kinship. Their bread-labels that have found their way to the lines of Our Lord's Prayer are tied together much like the reader's eyes. The layout of the exhibition, (which, according to Vörösváry's ars poetica, is a special branch of performing art which he has been practising for years with the indefatigable and creative involvement of István Steffanits) is consequent in employing recurring motifs and symbols; adding stress to what he has to say through the momentum of repetition. I.e. the vision and the Image Gallery are just as composed as a work of art. |
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Ákos Vörösváry's installation, the Cross (1992—97) impresses with its mere dimensions (Image 9), composed of turn-of-the-century oleographs. It receives visitors with open arms. The twelve pairs of Jesus Christ-Virgin Mary with hearts in flame, that, deprived of their function, have been exiled from living rooms, as have their art-nouveau wooden and blondel-frames, found a new home among these walls. Because, by artistically using serial and repetitive elements, they undoubtedly speak to our age. Just as a few Caribbean avant-garde artists spoke to us at the turn of the 80s and the 90s through similar contentual and compositional solutions. |
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Smaller pieces of the collection of sacred images recur in the Passe-p Art works of the "inventor" of the genre, Katalin Albert (Image 11.12.14.15. ). This group of artefacts, recalling the fastidious, feminine beauty of objects created in nunneries, are able to coexist with different stylistic trends with empathy, as the artists of the Image Gallery "are no fetishists, they do not respect, but love works of art... The First Hungarian IMAGE GALLERY has life, change, motion in it"— admitted art historian László Beke at the exhibition entitled Speculum. "The collection itself is a constantly changing montage. Which makes it absolute’... it is like a kaleidoscope." And those who have ever held that little toy in their hands and peeped into its little pipe, know and understand precisely why it is worthwhile to come and see these exhibitions. Like pieces of a coloured glass mosaic, do artists and their works of art fit together, and the roses turn into - a string of beads. While Miklós Ganczaugh's aquarelle, Bread and Rose to Everybody, from 1997, is a reflection to the art of Kondor, among others, the large-sized oil-paintings of Siskov Ludmil (Image 5) and Ilona Keseru (which are not part of the collection) (Image 7) or Gyula Konkoly's red rose object (Image 6) evoke the powerful dynamics of Hungarian pop-art. Although stylistically different, the common roots are visibly there. A bizarre compound of folklore and grand art, of gaudiness and avant-garde, help us become free of deductive thinking and find and accept our origins intuitively, which is aided by form as well as colour. At Image Gallery, there is even an invisible "red-white-green" thread leading one along the road, being just as important a part of the collection as folklore, which at this exhibition appears in an unusual shape. On the first floor landing, green-glazed earthware pots embrace a crosses, lumpy corpus, (Image 3 and 7). Its movement entails blessing and prayer at the same time. Across the ground floor, an unusual flock of sheep is grazing among wrought-iron grave crosses. | ||
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The peaceful group of old, wooden corn-shellers and potato-presses is observed by the Good Shepherd from the height of a carved wooden bee-hive. They are all silent witnesses to a vanished world, dissolving the melancholy of the beauty and the evanescence of life with fine-tuned humour. Ákos Vörösváry's ensamblage, entitled Flock (1988—1997) has been grazing here for over a decade. Its validity has been proved by - in addition to Picasso, Brâncuşi, Géza Samu Géza and a number of 20th century artists - also time. Time, which is one of the main characters of the work of art created by the Serbian Miroslav Mandia. The Rose of Wandering — Ten years on foot in Europe 1991—2001, is a peculiar concept. "I am wandering because the rose of wandering is prayer. Prayer to the beauty of the rose, the wisdom of the Lord and the attractiveness of wandering. " —reads the 1997 reconstruction. Wheat and Rose are the Bread of the Soul - part of the ten year European project called the Rose of Wandering. The Rose of Wandering is a work of art based on motion, i.e. twenty kilometres of uninterrupted daily route. "Thus do I create an invisible, blue rose on the land of Europe with my footsteps. A blue rose, which is the symbol of the undoable, of everlasting searching. I commenced to create this work of art on November 9, 1991, at the grave of William Blake. Since then I have been to 15 European countries, gone over 17.500 km on foot, and in the daily efforts and enchantment of this pilgrimage, this wandering sacrifice, do I create this blue flower. A flower, which, with the body moving along in the open landscape, worming along on the earth and creating the European landscape with the eyes of the falcon from above, is growing. This is a work of art based on the totality of the past of existence, the traditions of medieval mystics and the great artistic creations of the 20th century. This work of art is an attempt to recreate the universal beauty of the rose, on the land of Europe, through continuous motion, through the spiritualisation of the body. It as an attempt to create an invisible, everlasting flower. A blue rose for the blue spaces of the universe. Going 20 kilometres every day, I take 26.000 steps a day. 1 kilogram of wheat is made up of 26.000 seed pieces. Thus every day I create, and sow on the streets and hillsides of Europe, 1 kg of wheat. New wheat, wheat created out of the goodness of the heart, i.e. the bread of life. And bread, as is commonly known, is the greatest secret of this, as well as of the other world. The steps and the seeds, this analogy of wandering and sowing, make it possible for me to every single day sow the wheat of rose on the land of Europe, with reference to metaphor, metamorphosis and analogy. Feeding the soul with it, because the rose is the bread of the soul. My wandering is sowing, it is a new spiritual bread." —reads this end of the millennium ballad at the magic mill of Diszel. An advantage of the genre of the concept is that it can be recreated by all kinds of media through words, yet other works of art can only be animated by the magic of personal encounter. It is also true for such undoubtedly related works as Tear . This 1997 large-scale installation, created by T.D. Suzuki and Swierkiewicz Róbert, (Image 7), is a homage to the most famous Japanese philosopher of this century, who, through his comparative study of zen-buddhism and European culture and mentality (1957) enabled us to sometimes dampen the fervour of our rational mind. As is also suggested by the exhibitions organised by the founders of IMAGE GALLERY (in addition to those mentioned above: Dr. Kinga Gyökér, László Lugosi Lugo, Aliona Frankl, Mr. Ferenc Pócsy and Mrs. Ferenc Pócsy). Although this first exhibition is but a thin cross-section of the entire collection, visitors cannot fail to sense a new quality, resulting from an unusual attitude. The IMAGE GALLERY, by taking works of art by contemporary Hungarian (fine)artists out of the clinical environment of exhibition halls and museums, and by mingling them in a highly subjective way, has certainly created something new as well as of value. The art collector and exhibition organiser Vörösváry rejected common orthodoxy and preferred an emotional approach instead of the rational, spirituality instead of the collection of treasures. When it concerns the essence, it is almost all the same whom a particular work was created by, when and out of what material, what its present condition is, etc. While the plastic civilisation of consumer society - instead of searching for the blue bird - is satisfied by the artificial domestication of piping thamaguchis in the pocket, the Image Gallery attempts to smuggle back the unusual into our lives, satiated with commercials and hamburgers. The objects and works of art saved from decay all warn us that, for their survival, they need care, as well as the largest possible number of dilettantes, - in the proper sense of the world, i.e.: patrons of art. |
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