Veiled lights, flowing colors. The most beautiful pieces from the Antal-Lusztig collection
2018. Mar. 11. - 2018. Aug. 26.
Jenő Barcsay, Dezső Korniss, Margit Anna, and Endre Bálint started out in the short-lived but highly influential European School, which operated between 1945 and 1949. They all strove to create a modern Hungarian art that was both Hungarian and European, with the artistic endeavours of Lajos Vajda and Imre Ámos serving as examples to follow. Their main idea was to create Hungarian art in the style of Bartók and Kodály, while at the same time being contemporary, modern, and European. The exhibition, curated by Katalin Nagy T., presents the work of these six outstanding artists, not only in the space and on the walls, but also in a volume of outstanding significance.
As part of a multi-year project, with the exclusive support of the Debrecen municipal government, the most beautiful pieces of the Antal–Lusztig collection are being published in volumes curated by the Déri Museum. The collection, which has been in the making for half a century, is the largest collection of fine and applied arts in the country, with approximately 5,000 items. Péter Antal collects mainly paintings, sculptures, and graphic art, but the collection also includes everything from Renaissance furniture to apothecary jars and Coptic textiles. The first volume of the collection contains reproductions of nearly 500 works by six artists, accompanied by texts and analyses. Some of the most notable works are reproduced in large format in the album section of the publication, while the small-format catalogue pages contain all of the works by a given artist found in the collection. The only exception to this is the chapter on Imre Ámos, as the collection contains more than 700 works by the painter, but only slightly more than 100 works were included in the collection volume. The 600-page album is not only a spectacular publication full of pictures, but also a reference book that will be of great help to present and future researchers and curators.
Curator: Nagy T. Katalin
Artists: Barcsay Jenő, Bálint Endre, Vajda Lajos, Ámos Imre, Korniss Dezső, Anna Margit