A World's Fair in Italy: Turin 1911

Lechner, Ödön

Gallery


Name:	Lechner, Ödön
Alternative Names:	Eugen Lechner
Gender:	Male
Birth:	August 27, 1845 Budapest (Hungary)
Death:	June 10, 1914 Magyar Köztársaság (Republic of Hungary)
Description:	Ödön Lechner studied architecture in Pest, and later at Berlin's Schinkel Academy. After a tour and study period in Italy, he returned to Pest in 1869 where he founded a successful architectural firm with Gyula Pártos. During the 1870s, they designed a number of apartment buildings on the Pest side of the Danube in a historicist style that combined neo-classical influences from Berlin and the Italian Renaissance. Between 1875 and 1878 he lived in Paris where he was influenced by the art nouveau style. In 1879, Lechner returned to Hungary and, after a trip to London between 1889 and 1890, his style moved away from the Historicist matrix to embrace the Hungarian Secession movement, which was related to Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe. Lechner typically decorated his buildings with terracotta and Zsolnay ceramic tile patterns inspired by old Magyar and Turkic as well as Indian and Persian folk art. He combined these folk references with the use of modern materials such as iron. One of Lechner's most renowned works is the Postal Savings Bank (the headquarters of the National Bank of Hungary today) which he completed in 1901. The building combines art nouveau influences with Hungarian motifs and Asian forms.
Structures:	Pavilion of Hungary Hungary is so modern in aesthetic expression and so jealous of its national traditions. The pavilion is the most striking in the International exhibition: austere in its exterior, beautiful and bizarre inside, this building of noble proportions and harmonious coloring ... is reminiscent of India and Persia ... and inspired by antique Hungarian motifs. (Melani, 289) Named “King’s Attila Tent-Palace,” the Hungarian Pavilion was unanimously considered the “Pearl of the Exposition” and praised for its ability to evoke a sense of motion in a perfectly geometric structure. The designers’ aim was to give visual expression to the power of the Hungarian military tradition, underscore its relevance to the present, and celebrate the strong and determinate nature of the Hungarian nation and its people. Made of wood, the Pavilion of Hungary combined the Romantic vision of the Tent-Palace of ancient king Attila with the Modernist inspiration of its stern cubic blocks. Harmoniously fused in the pavilion, Romantic echoes and Modernist traits are the defining elements of Hungarian functionalism. The building is a mirror of the lively social and cultural situation of the Hungarian nation, and particularly Budapest, during the first decade of the twentieth century. The Pavilion of Hungary was located on the left bank of the river Po, next to the Main entrance on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Orto Botanico (botanical gardens). It was designed by Hungarian architects Emil Tőry, Móric (Maurice) Pogány, and Dénes Györgyi. An eclectic building, combining Art Nouveau elements with the features of National Romanticism, it covered 6000 square meters, and was considered "the pearl of the exposition." Le Eposizioni di Roma e di Torino nel 1911 descritte ed illustrate (volume 4, January 1911, 31) described the building under construction as "una costruzione eminentemente caratteristica, con decorazioni cromatiche in maiolica" (a remarkably characteristic building with colorful maiolica decorations"). The Mostra Forestale Ungherese was located next to the Pavilion. Interpretive Essays National Romanticism and the Hungarian Pavilion The Hungarian Pavilion: Exterior The Hungarian Pavilion: Interior
Places:	Budapest (Hungary) Budapest is the actual capital city of Hungary. Among Budapest''s important museums and cultural institutions are the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hungarian National Museum, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, the Hungarian State Opera House the and National Széchényi Library. The central area of the city along the Danube River is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has many notable monuments, including the Hungarian Parliament, Buda Castle, Fisherman''s Bastion, and Gresham Palace. Magyar Köztársaság (Republic of Hungary) In 1911, Hungary was still part of the Dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (he gained freedom in 1918). Like Italy, Hungary was a belated, yet active, participant in the process of industrialization that had already marked the more advanced European countries. This was the age of the socio-political and economic growth of the bourgeois class in Hungary, a class that was striving to wrestle free from Austrian investments and financial control.
Photographs:	Lechner, Odon_ritratto \| Lechner, Odon_portrait