Barta, Artúr (1875 - 1930 után)

Applied artist, furniture designer and furniture maker. Little is known of his life and career. His first furniture displayed a combination of Art Nouveau and historicism, appeared in the Christmas Exhibition of 1903, as described in the periodical Magyar Iparművészet the following year. His legacy – a dozen or so original plans and a collection of several hundred pattern sheets in which he collected photographs of works by contemporary Hungarian and international designers – is now held in the Museum of Applied Arts Archives. These all bear a stamp with the legend: “Artúr Barta, designer, cabinetmaker, upholsterer, master decorator; Budapest IV. Váczi-utcza 37, Merkur Palace”. His book A lakásberendezés művészete (The Art of Furnishing) was published in 1921 as a supplement of the journal Műiparos – a lakásberendezési összes műiparágainak szaklapja (Műiparos – Journal of All Branches of Furnishing Crafts). His surviving plans display mainly the plank-style influence of “folk” Art Nouveau.