Category: Arts and Culture

On the Common Roots of Pennsylvanian and Hungarian Anabaptism The history of 17th and 18th century Anabaptism provides a unique link between the religious and cultural histories of the United States and Hungary. The common roots and shared traits of American and Hungarian Anabaptism, however, have received little scholarly attention

Poems translated with an Introduction by Tony Brinkley and with a Note by the author TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION  Each of the five poems from Gyula Kodolányi’s Messages of W. Sh. is titled by a corresponding number from Shakespeare’s sonnets, and in Messages, phrases from Shakespeare’s sonnets recur both in Shakespeare’s English and in Kodolányi’s

From apparel design to sacral banners, from performance fashion shows to landscaping and philosophical poetry, the work of Erzsébet Katona Szabó (b. 1952) stretches a uniquely wide spectrum. Compellingly elegant and refined yet contemplative and melancholic at the same time, her creative stance draws on the complexity of a life

The exhibition Art and Design for All: The Victoria and Albert Museum (Iparművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 15 June – 16 September 2012) traces the origins of the ever-innovative Victoria and Albert Museum (“V&A”), and looks at the influence of the museum on one of its heirs, the exhibition’s host venue, Hungary’s national Museum of

From South Kensington to Budapest “Collections and public monuments are the true teachers of a free people.They are not merely the teachers of practical exercises,but more importantly the schools of public taste.”  Gottfried Semper’s quote (“Science, Industry and Art: on the importance of the World Fair from 1851”) perfectly describes

Three Photographs Can a photograph tell the truth? Roland Barthes recalls the amazement he could still feel when he looked at a portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte: “Quite some time ago I happened on a photograph of Napoleon’s youngest brother, Jérôme, taken in 1852. And I realized then, with an amazement

The Story of Hungarian Architect László Hudec László Ede Hugyecz (1893–1958) – later L. E. Hudec – was a Hungarian architect who fled the vicissitudes of Europe in the early 20th century, taking with him the style and knowledge of European building design and construction. His body of work, spanning

Opposites and Complementaires In our January issue, we published the first part of Zsuzsa Szebeni’s essay on the stagecraft of Count Miklós Bánffy, novelist, draughtsman, politician, and Royal Commissioner of the Hungarian Opera during the First World War. That piece was called The Legend of the Palette of Miklós Bánffy,

Wine culture, national wine culture – what do these phrases actually mean? Why have they gradually become emptied of content and reduced to the lowly status of a platitude? What makes a wine culture? What does it consist of? Is it a condition, an activity, a type of behaviour perhaps,