Quantity / Provenance / Document types, inclusive dates
Uninventoried, 14 folders, 1 file holder (large format documents) / Gift, 2002 / Correspondence, diaries, miscellaneous documents, contracts, art work tender submissions, documents of exhibitions, photos
Description
István Eigel (1922–2000) was a painter, applied artist and writer. Received his diploma from the Hungarian College of Fine Arts (now: Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest) in 1946, where his masters had been Gyula Rudnay and Aurél Bernáth. Taught drawing classes at the same school between 1961–1963, then went on to teach at the Hungarian College of Arts and Crafts (now: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest) from 1963. He and his wife, Klára Tassy, had a studio in the artist colony on Százados Road in Budapest from 1960 on. Was awarded several prizes: the Munkácsy Prize, the Merited Artist Award and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. His first solo exhibition was in 1947; from 1958 on, his works appeared in exhibitions abroad as well, and at the Venice Biennale in 1960.
Mrs. István Eigel, born Klára Tassy (1922–2001) was a painter and applied artist. She studied at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts between 1941–1948, where her masters were Gyula Rudnay and Aurél Bernáth. Apart from painting, she also made gobelin designs. Her first exhibition was in 1951, which was followed by many others – both solo and group exhibitions, in Hungary and abroad alike. (Sometimes she would exhibit together with her husband, István Eigel.) Her works are also included in several public collections.
The fonds is comprised of the joint bequest of artists István Eigel and Klára Tassy – the letters they had written to each other, both of their diaries, notes, as well as their correspondence with family members and friends living in Hungary and abroad. The fonds also contains István Eigel’s manuscripts, a more extensive autobiography of him from 1970, as well as the documents of commissioned works he’d delivered, invitations to tender, correspondences, contracts, documents related to work as a jury member, and payment slips. Likewise contained therein are the documents of Klára Tassy’s commissioned works and the documents of the tenders she had won. Miscellaneous documents related to István Eigel and his job as teacher at the College of Arts and Crafts. Documents related to Eigel and Tassy’s exhibitions in Hungary and abroad; invitations to exhibit, with lists of artworks, prices and correspondence.
