International Exhibition of Decorative Art at Turin, 1902

In Valentino Park on the outskirts of Turin, the white pavilions of the First International Exhibition of Decorative Art at Turin stood among the greenery of avenues and woods. The installation of the Hungarian pavilion was the work of Pál Horti, whose coherent artistic creation successfully harmonised the bazaar section with room furnishings. He crowned the design with a triumphal arch and created unity with artistic murals and room outlines. Horti was assisted in the installation by Miksa Róth and Róbert Scholtz. Four furnished rooms were exhibited in the Hungarian pavilion. Horti was also the designer of the most outstanding modern Hungarian-style rooms: a dining room and a gentleman’s study. The dining room was made by Imre Mahunka and the study by E. Horváth and J. Petrassevits. Both were elegantly simple and displayed excellent workmanship. Ödön Faragó also designed a study, which was made by the Bútorcsarnok Szövetkezet furniture cooperative, and had already been seen at the Christmas Exhibition of Applied Arts. Ede Toroczkai Wigand produced a fine example of his art in a blue dining room. In addition to these four rooms, there was a “villa room”, also by Toroczkai Wigand, a design experiment involving the motifs of Hungarian graveposts. Interior design was accompanied in the exhibition by Hungarian metalware and ceramics (Samu Hibján, Pál Horti, Oszkár Tarján Huber, Rezső Vögerl, Eri Wiesinger and Mór Hirschler), and Hungarian small sculpture (Ede Telcs, József Damkó, György Vastagh and Bethlen). Gizella Greguss Mirkovszkyné’s nacré and pressed velvet attracted many admirers in Turin.

Czakó E. 'A torinói kiállítás' in: Magyar Iparművészet 1902/4. szám, 145-168.

by Jessica Fehérvári