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Zsolnay Ceramic Factory Pécs, Hungary Vase About 1906 Porcelain with luster and other glazes Designed by Sándor Hidasy Pilló or Terez Mattyasovszky 12-3/4 inches high, 9-3/4 inches in diameter Gift of the Decorative Arts Council 94.36 |
This vase combines popular folk art MOTIFS, which look back to the Asiatic roots of the Magyar people, with the flowing plant and animal forms of a new stylistic movement called Art Nouveau (New Art). In areas under German influence, such as Hungary, Art Nouveau was called JUGENDSTIL (Young Style). The continuous scene on the sides and mouth illustrates the blend of influences. Abstracted tree branches spread across a vibrant purple and gold sky, and a medieval fortress perches on the side of a rock. The fortress may be a reference to the church towers of Pécs. Zsolnay's trademark of five towers also recalls the five medieval churches located there. The German name of the city, Fünfkirchen, means "five towers." A blood-red setting sun evokes the moodiness of ROMANTICISM, and a fanciful mountain ash makes an association with plants native to Hungary.
Flying birds encircle the mouth of the vessel. They have been STYLIZED as rounded, streamlined shapes of head, wings, and body represented by a few BRUSHSTROKES of blue and green glazes. The birds are similar to ones found embroidered on aprons and other garments worn by peasant women in remote Hungarian villages at the time the vase was made. Artists recorded and studied such motifs from native handcrafts in a search for continuity with the past.3
Art Nouveau came later to Hungary than to the rest of Europe but found fertile ground there. It blended easily with a centuries-old tradition of carved and decorated houses, heavily embroidered clothing, and highly decorative articles for everyday use. This identification with the past played an important role in the development of a style that blended folk art and legend, the romanticism of central Europe, Far Eastern art, and Western European and American forms.4
Notes
3. Interest shifted to native handcrafts and themes when the rapid growth of international industrial production threatened their survival. The promotion of folk art embodied criticism of modern capitalist urban life.
4. Éri and Jobbágyi, A Golden Age, pp. 25-27. See also Pál Miklós, Hungarian Art Nouveau (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1977), pp. 4-7.
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