Sculptures at the bath

The traditions of the open-air statues are millennial. They have already enriched the beauty of the human environment in Egypt and the ancient Greek cities. The European culture continued this ancient tradition through millennia, in different artistic ages, entirely our days. It is indicative of the importance of the sculptures and monuments that the cities were erected on their busy spaces generally. Many men much time, faced them as much time as daily possible. Their aesthetic pleasing was with a multiple, renewable effect.

This general significance more stressed than the importance of the open-air statues in the plain cities. The sculptures are the sole representatives of the aesthetic value where we may hardly talk about ancient monuments. We do not have a reason for a complaint examination of Hodmezovasarhely’s sculptures.

VENUS OF DEBRECEN (1955)
Ferenc Medgyessy
Urban Lido
Limestone, 173 cm
His pedestal marble slab cover concrete column

In the time between the two world wars the developmental energies of Vasarhely with an agricultural character were still worn out. Altogether three establishments came true in his exceptionally serious financial position, it is with a foreign country, Swedish origin, from a Speyer loan: the hospital’s extension, a tenement house and the lido. Before it was one 100 metre continuous cold wet pool, which was the only one with this size in the country. During the next fifty years this two pools transformed into 50 metre ones – it was modernised, but the bath architecturewise was unpretentious and its are was exceptionally narrow. The thought of the aesthetic enrichment of bleak environment arose early, but a row got to his realisation in only 1955 in a first flavour, when Ferenc Medgyessy life carved Venus of Debrecen as one of his last creations into a stone.The set of the statue which Ferenc Medgyessy himself assigned on the site was very lucky. The 100 metres long and the overflow of the well with warm water raised on his middle in the end of 20 metres of wide water surface the sculpture got to a square column. The clear, radiant white limestone is exceptionally artistic in the band of the surrounding trees, smaller buildings and the water. The full body standing female nude fixes her hair shows off all of the features of Medgyessy`s art and his virtue: conciseness, closeness, simplicity. The full form of the young body carries health, natural sensuality. Vitality radiates from the shapely, female body with a slightly rustic carving. The foot and the stinging lock, the arms and the face already busier, rich in details ,more lyre solved. The work is the aesthetic ornament of the bath. He became his creation giving the daily artistic pleasure to those thousands of people who are visiting here in summer time.

WATER ENTRANCE (1962)
Beni Ferenczy
Urban Lido
Bronze, 190 cm
His pedestal black marble slab cover concrete column

The story of the sculpture gets onto Vasarhely with art historical significance. Beni Ferenczy prepared ceramics in the majolica factory in 1955. He got acquainted with the city under his presence. Gyula Almasi told him at the time of the visit of the lido painter, that soon, Medgyessy, the sculpturer visites our bath. The thought, with which Beni Ferenczy agreed in how beautiful single Ferenczy would be with Medgyessy on a place, was brought up the work. Two of the biggest creators of the Hungarian sculpturing of the 20th century. Beni Ferenczy thought of water entrance because of the character of the place, but at this time this idea had already sold out. His placement was planned to be in front of the Tihany cinema. He managed to make the officers recognise that a nude is a sculpture after all rather finally for a bath, than for a cinema. Balaton’s Committee handed over the sculpture to the city council. Unfortunately, that then the water entrance not original got to proposed place by way of Beni Ferenczy. This would have been the pool on the middle of his noon end opposite Medgyessy’s Venus of Debrecen. This failed because of the jumper rack. Altough it was not ideal, but was roughly equal to the sculpture. Onto the place seen by the artist in a prophetic dream in only the year of 2003, the water entrance was found at the time of the renovation of the bath and our swimming pool construction.

The man steps ahead and downwards according to the title of a nude. The young man body carries classic beauty. Proportional, we do not find his exterior appearance primary after all. A body and a soul live together in the work. All this from the keeping, the body leaning forward, the down a spectator milks engrossment, spirituality expressive gushes out by her own. The artist took advantage of the materiality of the bronze, which is perfectly shapable.

The sources were used from the book of Janos Domotor: The sculptures of Vasarhely

Attila Nagy, Our Town’s Own Venus bronze statue

We can call Vasarhely the city of the sculptures without an exaggeration. Is this true regarding the numerical, since one hundred and fifty-three sculptures, concern autonomous relief with an artistic claim decorates, glosses the city. But to consider inside an artistic branch, it is necessary to establish the thematic distribution, some bias. The big part of his plastic art work is a monument. The work displays the aesthetic quality of the human environment, the nature is missing.

It was necessary to welcome with a big joy when we may have revealed it at the entrance of the urban bath because of this just Attila Nagy young market place sculptor whole figural one, Our Town’s Venus bronze. The idea of Venus, which so many artists depicted the Latin goddess of the love in a diverse solution, displayed it. Most of them of the natural beauty of the female body, others of the sexuality characteristic, it was emphasized in the representation of the motive.

Attila Nagy spotlighted the tenderness at Our Town’s Venus solution. The accentuation of the delicate lines of the body, his slender, soft forms expressed it. The natural beauty of the artistic beauty succeeded his form to rewrite without sacrificing of the beautiful model’s aesthetic quality. The natural and the artistic beauty created an excellent sculpture by Attila Nagy.

The space insertion of the sculpture is excellent. The conditions of the approach all and the detail richness make a band’s success, his observer delight possible. Constitutes a separate value as the day is the full circle plastic surgery opportunities of the body, his values prevail from morning till night by the way of diverse illuminations.
Our Town’s own Venus statue enriches the local and Hungarian statuary with a valuable work.

Attila Nagy (Hodmezovasarhely, 29 December 1966) returned to his hometown where he lives now. He finished the College of Fine Arts at the University of Pecs where he had some exhibitions and won prizes: Hodmezovasarhely’s Autumn Exhibition with his towers plaque, Vac’s Winter Exhibition: Capital prize, XI. National Portraitbienale: Golden Diploma, Romes Academy Scholarship, Phd Dla scholarship, Greek Mithology application: Capital prize …etc.

Directed nearly twenty individual exhibitions in different cities and attended national vocational exhibitions.
His plaza works consist in Sopron ( Your artist’s allegory), in Hodmezovasarhely ( Mother Nature, Vasarhely’s Venus), in Zebegeny ( Istvan Szonyi bust), in Nagymaros (Saint Marton and the beggar)

Hódmezővásárhely, 2009-06-19, Dr. Dömötör János