{"id":34682,"date":"2025-02-04T15:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/wystawy\/zsolnay-wegierska-secesja\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:23:17","slug":"zsolnay-wegierska-secesja","status":"publish","type":"wystawy","link":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/en\/wystawy\/zsolnay-wegierska-secesja\/","title":{"rendered":"Zsolnay. Hungarian Art Nouveau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The phenomenon of the Zsolnay factory, which was based in South Hungary\u2019s city of P\u00e9cs, marks an important chapter in the history of Hungarian Art Nouveau movement and an important component in the panorama of art around 1900. The type of objects produced in the factory, which reflected the stylistic tastes of the era, the vision of its owners, as well as the innovations of its technologies, made Zsolnay factory one of the best-known producers of ceramics across Austria-Hungary, as well as Europe at large. Zsolnay\u2019s products were appreciated and collected by Walter Crane, an Arts and Crafts artist. This internationally acclaimed factory (awarded at numerous international exhibitions, including Vienna (1873) and Paris (1878, 1900) is also an important element of the landscape and identity of P\u00e9cs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The factory\u2019s beginnings date back to the 19th century, when Mikl\u00f3s Zsolnay founded it in P\u00e9cs, but its heyday came when it was run by his son, Vilmos. The successive generations of the Zsolnay family \u2013 including the Polish engineer Tadeusz (T\u00e1d\u00e9) Sikorski, who married the owners\u2019 daughter J\u00falia \u2013 developed the factory\u2019s initiatives, actively engaging in the management and development of its products, as well as in the concepts and designs of manufactured objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The factory\u2019s heyday came at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The period\u2019s postulated synthesis of arts and revival of crafts resulted in the involvement of artists in the design of household objects, as well as led to the changes in implemented technological processes. The era of Art Nouveau brought an intense development of ceramics, which due to the plasticity of the material used for its production, offered perfect opportunities for the creation of forms that responded to the stylistic preferences of the era. This trend was perfectly illustrated by the Zsolnay factory, whose products reflected the stylistics of the time (soft lines, sculptural forms, floral and organic ornaments), as well as, significantly, were made with the use of innovative technologies. Zsolnay\u2019s success \u2013 next to formally sophisticated objects devised by the factory\u2019s designers who were educated in Budapest and Vienna \u2013 was partly achieved thanks to their introduction of the techniques of eosin and pirogranite. The former gave the objects an iridescent, metallic tone. The latter, used in the production of architectonic details, enhanced their durability, endurance, and resistance to weather conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important sector of Zsolnay\u2019s production, next to decorative and applied ceramics, was the production of elements used for the decoration of numerous buildings across the former Austria-Hungary \u2013 their colourful facings adorned roofs, facades, and interiors of public buildings, churches, and private homes. Numerous examples can still be found in many cities in Hungary, Austria, Serbia, and Romania. Among them, the most important examples are works made by \u00d6d\u00f6n Lechner, one of the key Hungarian artists, who combined elements of Art Nouveau with those of the national style. Objects produced by the Zsolnay family are among the major works of the Art Nouveau applied arts and architecture in Hungary, as well as in the European and global context. They are often compared to objects produced by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Cl\u00e9ment Massier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition featured over 100 objects (decorative ceramics, drawings, and architectonic details) from the collection of Janus Pannonius M\u00fazeum in P\u00e9cs. This was the first presentation of the collection and the Zsolnay phenomenon in Poland to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Janus Pannonius M\u00fazeum in P\u00e9cs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The display features objects loaned from the Masovian Museum in P\u0142ock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition organised under the honorary auspices of the Mayor of the City of Krakow, Jacek Majchrowski, and the Mayor of the City of P\u00e9cs, Zsolt P\u00e1vy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition is organised within the frameworks of the Hungarian Culture Year in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Curators<\/div>
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Natalia \u017bak<\/div>\n
Curator at the ICC<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Orsolya Kov\u00e1cs<\/div>\n
Curator<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n
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Curators<\/div>\n \n
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Natalia \u017bak<\/div>\n
Curator at the ICC<\/div>\n \n
\n Art historian, curator, and writer. She has collaborated with art galleries in Poland and abroad. She works at the ICC in Krakow, where she curated exhibitions such as: \u201dLithuania. Two Centuries of Photography\u201d (2023, with Adam Mazur), \u201dTravelling Images. Ma\u0142gorzata Mirga-Tas\u201d (2022, with Wojciech Szyma\u0144ski), \u201dMore Than Bauhaus. German Photography between the Wars and Polish Parallels\u201d (2021, with Adelheid Komenda, Sebastian Lux and others), \u201dPhotobloc. Central Europe in Photobooks\u201d (Krakow 2019\u20132020, Olomouc 2020, Vilnius 2021; with Adam Mazur, \u0141ukasz Gorczyca), \u201dArchitecture of Independence in Central Europe\u201d (2018\u20132019, with \u0141ukasz Galusek, \u017banna Komar and others). She is currently working on a project about Central European design after 1945. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Orsolya Kov\u00e1cs<\/div>\n
Curator<\/div>\n \n
\n A Hungarian lawyer and diplomat, Hungary\u2019s Ambassador to Poland (2017\u20132024). A graduate in law from P\u00e9ter P\u00e1zm\u00e1ny University (2006), where she also obtained her doctorate. She was a scholarship holder at the University of T\u00fcbingen and Stefan Wyszy\u0144ski University in Warsaw. A translator and writer, she is the author of, amongst other works, the book “Lengyel mozaik” (Polish Mosaic), in which she interviewed 14 figures from Polish public life. Privately, she is the daughter of the Hungarian historian and diplomat Istv\u00e1n Kov\u00e1cs; her godfather was Professor Wac\u0142aw Felczak \u2013 a historian, Hungarophile and, during the Second World War, a courier for the Polish Underground State. She was awarded the Knight\u2019s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for her services to the promotion of Polish culture and literature (2015) and the Commander\u2019s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2024) for her outstanding services to the development of Polish\u2013Hungarian cooperation. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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