Margit Kovács (1902–1977) was a Hungarian

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

and sculptor.

Life

Margit Kovács was born in Győr,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

on 30 November 1902. She originally wished to become a graphic artist but she grew interested in ceramics in the 1920s and went to study in Vienna with Hertha Bücher, a famous Austrian ceramic artist, from 1926-1928. Then she studied clay modelling in

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at the State School of Applied Arts under Karl Killer (1928–29). She was a fellow student here, then lifelong friend of Julia Bathory, glass artist. She studied in

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in 1932 and in 1933 she was at

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factory where she mastered the art of modelling with

chamotte Grog, also known as firesand and chamotte, is a raw material usually made from crushed and ground potsherds, reintroduced back into crude clay to temper it before making ceramic ware. It has a high percentage of silica and alumina. It is no ...

clay to make figures. She won international awards in

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Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and

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. She was very popular in Hungary and received many public commissions. The Communist regime gave her the Distinguished Artist Award in 1959.

Work

Her first public exhibition was in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

in 1928 and from then on her output was prolific and she continued working throughout the Second World War. She produced statuettes, pots, plates, wall plaques and tiled murals. Her main themes are country folk, family life and bible stories. Her work is very varied but is characterised by flowing lines which curve sensually to evoke sentiment. One of her most significant works of religious art is the portal of the Saint Emeric Church (''Szent Imre templom'') of Győr (1939–1940). Several of her ceramic murals are still visible in Budapest and other cities. Those in Budapest at the time of her death were:Pataky-Brestyánszky In 1972 she donated the majority of her work to the Pest County Museums Directorate in

Szentendre Szentendre () is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis- Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the Open-Air Ethnographic Museum), galleries, and artists. Due to its ...

. A museum of her work was opened in 1973 in Vastagh Street, Szentendre. There is also a collection in Győr.

Death

Kovács died in Budapest on 4 June 1977. Her grave is in Farkasréti Cemetery in Budapest.

Gallery

File:Kovács Margit kerámia Kozma Lajos Régiposta utcai bérházán.jpg, Old Post Office Building in a Budapest street File:Kovács Margit kerámia Budapest Vármegye utca.jpg, Plaque in Vármegye street, Budapest File:Kovács Margit Budavári kerámia.jpg, Ceramic panel at the Bécsi Gate of Buda Castle

References

* Lea Schenk, ''Margit Kovács Photo Album'', Budapest, 2007 (2001) * Ilona Pataky-Brestyánszky, ''Margit Kovács'', Budapest, Corvina/Képzőművészti Kiadó, 1976

External links

The Kovács museum

International Art Portal

Pottery, Politics and Identity: Three Hungarian Ceramicists and the Central European Diaspora
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacs, Margit 1902 births 1977 deaths Hungarian ceramists Hungarian sculptors Hungarian women ceramists Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery 20th-century Hungarian sculptors 20th-century Hungarian women artists 20th-century ceramists Hungarian women sculptors