The 1899 Christmas Exhibition of the Hungarian Applied Arts Association

The 1899 Christmas Exhibition was essentially a preliminary show for Hungarian exhibits at the Paris World’s Fair the following year. It was the first appearance of artists who neither followed the historicist line nor imitate the new Western movements, but produced work of true individuality.

The exhibition was closely scrutinised by contemporary critics, who were of the opinion that, alongside Ede Toroczkai Wigand, Pál Horti was indubitably the best of the participating artists. He won a gold medal for his carpets and furniture and a bronze for his applied decoration and fine metalware. There were six interiors on display in the exhibition: entrance hall (Pál Horti), study (Pál Horti), salon (Frigyes Spiegel), dining room (Ernő Förk), woman’s bedroom (Ilona Huszár) and children’s room (Erik Pauli).

The outstanding furniture designers and makers were: Alajos Polgár, Tamás Kántor, Ödön Faragó, Károly Bodon, János Vaszary, Ferenc Riha, Gizella Greguss (Mirkovszky Gézáné), Mór (Moricz) Hirschler, Lajos Engel, Viktor Bányai and Frigyes Spiegel.

Lamps: Frigyes Spiegel and H. T. Rex, and Josef Hoffmann.

Woven work: Sarolta Kovalszky Wittmann, Pál Horti, János Vaszary, Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, and Gizella Greguss (Mirkovszky Gézáné).

Leather: Jenő Fischof and Sándor Nagy.

Ceramics: Herend Porcelain, Zsolnay, Sándor Apáti Abt, and Vince Wartha.

Diner-Dénes J. 'A karácsonyi kiállítás' in: Magyar Iparművészet 1900 / 1–2. szám; 1-23.

by Jessica Fehérvári