At the long last I manage to post here again. I had prepared two further entries, but have not managed to proofread them and add pictures as of yet.
In the meantime I have returned from a holiday in Hungary, where I tried to relax as much as possible, spending as much time as possible riding, soaking in thermal baths and just seizing the moment. The first days were nice and warm, but then the weather changed and it became hideously cold, definitely not what we had expected.
Last Thursday then the Unger exhibition (Egy győri polgárcsalád a reformkorból: az Ungerek – Kártyagyártók és művészek/ A middling sort family from Reform Age Győr: The Ungers — Card producers and artists) was opened at the XJ Museum in Győr. I cannot say how thrilled I am about this. Not just because it is so exciting to see the wooden playing card stamps from my family and pictures of their cards on display there, but also because finally Alajos Unger’s art is appreciated posthumously. This I had hoped for for the longest time and to find as much of his original artwork as possible. I remember when I was sitting on a bench in the parco Ducale in Parma contemplating this when I spent three months there attending Italian language and art history classes at the university there as an Erasmus student. I was taking every opportunity while being there and travelling around the country to see as much (renaissance) artwork as possible in museums, churches and elsewhere, which is really funny because Parma and Duchess Marie-Louise played such an important role in Leopold Kupelwieser’s career. This especially since I did not know that Kupelwieser had been Alajos’ teacher back then… Anyway, something somehow drove me to the arts back then, which helps me understand and appreciate Alajos’ art so much better.
Anyway, the exhibition was organised by the museum and it is not only highly informative but also has a high aesthetic value overall I find. This not just because of the artwork on display there — basically the two oil paintings from the National Gallery (The Recapture of Győr, the family portrait from 1843) and the Madonna my relative loaned as well as various drawings by Alajos and Kupelwieser. I am also very pleased that the museum used all my information on the family and its members, which my family (my parents and the relative who loaned the painting) and I had researched and compiled for so many years. Finally it has all been bearing fruit and all these findings will be presented in more detail in my forthcoming article in the museum yearbook Arrabona. Dr Gy Sz mainly gave a summary of this article in his opening speech. It is noteworthy that the museum has shown such an interest in the history of the Unger family.
