David A. Hill

David A. Hill

DAVID A. HILL was born in Walsall, UK in 1952, and after studying and working in Britain until 1977, has lived in Italy, ex-Yugoslavia, and Hungary. His main professional work is related to education, and he has written over 50 books in this field. He is also a poet with four published collections, and a translator of poetry. An experienced naturalist, Hill has studied and written articles and books on botany, ornithology and lepidoptery. His interest in all things Art Nouveau dates back to 1970, and he has travelled throughout Europe and beyond to see and photograph the art and architecture of the period, as well as writing articles and giving lectures about it. As a semi-professional blues musician, Hill has given concerts in many pubs and clubs around Budapest over the years.

THE PEACOCKS OF BUDAPEST – SOURCE AND STYLE IN HUNGARIAN ART NOUVEAU DESIGN

The peacock has always been an important symbol in many different cultures throughout Asia (from where the bird originates), the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe. For the ancient Greeks it was the bird of Hera (Juno), whose one-hundred-eyed, blue tail feathers symbolised the vault of heaven with its stars.

CYCLES IN THE LIFE OF BUDAPEST SECESSION BUILDINGS – A PLEA

I first came to Budapest in February 1991. As an ardent student of architecture and design in the period 1880–1914, I used the little free time I had to study those secession buildings I already knew something about. The information I came with was minimal in those pre-internet days, when