Exhibition of Éva Szittya Horváth and Ágoston Brand - Design Artists of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory Ltd.

• 26. October 2005. - 31. March 2006.

Éva Szittya Horváth

Szittya Horváth was born in Székelykeresztúr, Transylvania in 1919.

Her father established the local Primary School for girls and became its headmaster. The school functioned until the First World War. In 1916 the family fled Transylvania but returned in 1918. The head of the family was unemployed for nine years. Éva was born into a family of artists: her father opened a music school and painted, while her mother wrote poetry, to which her father composed musical scores. Éva was one of three children.
Her flair for the arts manifested itself at a young age: Éva collected pebbles because she saw them as objects in the shape of birds, lizards and snakes, which she painted with oil paints.
She enrolled in the School of Applied Arts, later called Academy of Applied Arts, in 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, and graduated in 1952. Sculptor Miklós Borsos was her consultant for the defence of her thesis.
She started working in the Herend Porcelain Manufactory in 1952 as an applied artist. At first, she made different ornaments but later, at the behest of the then top brass of the company, went on to design a "period dinner service" in the Herend tradition together with her husband-to-be Ágoston Brand.
She worked in Herend for three decades.

In 1975, she and Ágoston Brand staged a joint exhibition of their collected works in the Nagytétény Mansion, which drew over 20 thousand visitors.

Exhibitions abroad:
1955-60 Brussels, Frankfurt (2nd Prize), Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, Paris
1974 Copenhagen (1st and 2nd Prize)

Exhibitions in Hungary:
1960 "Finest Product" Competition - 1st and 2nd Prize
1970 tile competition - special prize
Centenary of the city of Pécs - National Grand Prize
On her Golden Jubilee the University of Applied Arts awarded her a "Golden Honorary Diploma".

In 1999, the Herend Porcelain Manufactory paid homage to her work with a Life Achievement Award.


Ágoston Brand

Ágoston Brand was born in Újpest in 1901.
Having graduated from secondary school, he worked as a drawing artist for the Légrády Press in Budapest.
In 1919, he enrolled in the National School of Applied Arts and graduated 5 years later as a graphic artist.
In 1924, he graduated from the Budapest School of Applied Arts.
Between 1925 and 1939 he lived in Paris working as a graphic artist and painter, designing exhibition and stage decoration as well as ceramics and coloured wall tiles, such as the ceramic wall of the kindergarten in St. Ouen.
Commissioned by the French state, he was among the team of designers who dreamt up the pavilions of the 1937 World Fair.
His drawings and etchings were exhibited in the SALON des INDEPENDENTS in Paris. Other works by him were put on display in Lille and Algiers.
In 1939, he returned to Hungary.
In 1940, he started working as a designer for the Herend Porcelain Manufactory.
In 1942, he won the silver medal at the National Ceramics Exhibition in Budapest and Kosice.
In 1943, he won the silver medal for achievements in porcelain at the Budapest Porcelain and Ceramics Exhibition.
He worked at Herend until the autumn of 1947, when he moved to Budapest to become the graphic artist of Főkert, a position he held until 1958.
In 1958, the Earthenware Department of the Ministry of Construction sent him back to Herend, where he worked until 1980 as an applied arts designer.
In 1952, he won first and third prize at the National Dinner Service Competition. He also won several certificates and prizes at the "Finest Product of the Year" competitions.

His works were exhibited in 1969 at the Herend Porcelain Show in Paris, in 1973 in Vienna and in 1974 in Copenhagen.

For years he was a regular exhibitor at applied arts shows.
Together with applied artist Éva Szittya Horváth, he was commissioned to design and produce dinner services of different styles.

In 1975, they staged a joint exhibition of their collected works in the Nagytétény Mansion, which drew over 20 thousand visitors.