Dear Colleagues,

This exhibition will interest those of you in the
New York area. I pass this on from Carma Gorman's
Design Forum.

Ken Friedman


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This announcement is brought to you by Design Forum.

Hungarian Ceramics from the Zsolnay Manufactory, 1853-2001

July 17 - October 13, 2002

The Zsolnay ceramics factory has produced some of the most beautiful
and innovative artistic products in its field since the mid-19
century. Using imaginative techniques, this ambitious and creative
factory located in southwestern Hungary, has employed an
extraordinarily wide range of styles in its work. The exhibition at
the Bard Graduate Center, from July 17 to October 13, 2002, will
examine more than 200 objects and designs produced over 150 years, as
well as a selection of archival and contemporary photos that
represent every stylistic trend, technical innovation, and aspect of
production in the factory's history. The exhibition's contents
represent a triumph of Hungarian applied arts and mirror the
cultural, economic and political development of Central and, later,
Eastern Europe.

The exhibition is the first comprehensive look at the factory,
including works from 1853 to the present, and therefore makes an
important contribution to understanding the development of the
ceramic arts of Central and Eastern Europe. Works in the show are
organized chronologically, covering the historicist, art nouveau, art
deco, modern, and postmodern styles, and include ceramics for
structures such as urns and fountains, mirrors and small sculptures;
tiles for furniture; and a range of decorative and utilitarian
objects.

The factory, still in operation today, was started by the merchant
Ignac Zsolnay in 1852 in Pecs. It initially produced modest,
utilitarian wares for the local market, such as decorative
architectural terracotta elements and simple dishes. It was Ignac's
brother Vilmos (1828-1900), regarded by his contemporaries as the
greatest Hungarian potter, who brought the firm international acclaim
and developed it into the largest ceramics manufacturing complex in
Austria-Hungary, and a worldwide exporter of its products. Moreover,
Vilmos transformed the factory into a self-sufficient complex that
employed skilled workers from abroad but also trained village potters
on site and produced its own raw materials.

Under Vilmos the factory developed an artistic identity and made
numerous technical breakthroughs. While it manufactured such items as
industrial porcelain, terra-cotta for the construction industry, and
tableware, the factory also became known for its production of richly
decorated vessels, such as wash bowls, jugs, and flower pots. It also
gained a reputation for its pioneering use of special glazes and
ornamentation techniques, including the porcelain-faience method
developed during the 1870s, the iridescent glaze eosin in the 1890s,
and a frost-proof material, Pyrogranit, that beginning in 1885 was
employed in the ornamentation of buildings' exteriors. The factory
also devised styles of decoration, inspired by ancient Greek,
Egyptian, Hungarian folk ceramics, Persian and Turkish ceramic arts,
the European Renaissance and Chinese and Japanese ceramics that were
adopted around the world.

In 1878 the Zsolnay factory received its first formal international
recognition when it was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris Universal
Exposition for its porcelain faience. By the 1880s the factory was
competing with top European ceramics producers. Later in the century
it received awards at international shows and exhibitions, at which
the firm's wares were celebrated for their extraordinary richness of
color and imaginative design.

During this time the firm also made its mark in the field of
architectural ceramics, producing distinctive embellishments for some
of the finest public and private buildings throughout the
Austro-Hungarian empire. Working with leading Hungarian and Viennese
architects, such as Otto Wagner, Max Fabiani and Lechner, the factory
earned acclaim for its beautiful ornamentation of buildings, often
accomplished with colored tiles that evoked a distinct Hungarian
style. By the early 20th century, due in part to a boom in the
construction industry, architectural ceramics had become a
significant aspect of the factory's work.

Between 1900 and 1918 the factory reached the pinnacle of its
success, receiving top prizes at exhibitions in Paris, Turin, St.
Louis, and Milan. By that time, management of the enterprise had
passed to Vilmos's son, Miklos, under whom the factory's own
designers and commissioned outside artists created vases, wall
plates, lamps, and jewelry trays in the art nouveau and early art
deco styles, often using the lustrous eosin technique pioneered by
the elder Zsolnay. These works, produced singly or in small
production runs, became the "jewelry" of luxuriously appointed
interiors.

After World War I, with Austria-Hungary disbanded and two-thirds of
historical Hungary divided among neighboring states, the Zsolnay
factory lost its sources of raw materials and then its international
markets. The factory adapted by turning to mass production of
industrial porcelain and household goods in addition to the creation
of art objects. When Hungary fell under communist control in 1948 the
factory was nationalized. For the next five years it concentrated
almost entirely on industrial porcelain. Finally, in 1973 the Zsolnay
name reappeared on the factory's output. Today the factory is owned
by a state bank and produces porcelain tableware and ornamental
objects for the Hungarian market, while maintaining a workshop for
eosin painters, a studio for the hand-painted porcelain-faience
decorative objects, a center for the new products as well as for
researching and producing new editions of the more creative and
richly decorated works from its past history, and an architectural
division.

The Catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue
published by Yale University Press in association with the Bard
Graduate Center. The book makes an important contribution to
English-language scholarship on the development of the ceramic arts
of Eastern Europe and, more broadly, the cultural and industrial
evolution of Central and Eastern Europe during the mid- 19th and the
20th centuries. It features a historical introduction followed by 16
essays by European scholars, who examine every period of production
in the factory's history and consider the political, economic, and
cultural contexts in which the factory operated. The book also
includes detailed entries for all works in the show, biographies of
the factory's premier artists and of Zsolnay family members, and a
glossary of ceramics production techniques. Yale University Press
distributes the book worldwide; copies are on sale at the Bard
Graduate Center.

Related Programs

Accompanying the exhibition are several educational programs and
special events for the public. For information on these offerings,
please call 212-501-3023 or e-mail [log in to unmask]

For further information, please call 212-501-3000.