Ferenc Kossuth’s silver tableware, a HUF 100 million painting by Hantaï Simon, an exceptional work by Judit Reigl, and the textiles of Ilona Keserü await visitors to the Art and Antique exhibition and fair from February 29 to March 3 in Bálna. Hungary’s largest classical and contemporary fine arts event has announced some of its sensations this year.
Judit Reigl is an incredibly popular figure in Hungarian contemporary painting at the international level. At the Art and Antique exhibition and fair, those interested can view – and buy – the ‘Fekete Robbanás’, made in 1955, by the artist, who died in 2020, thanks to the Kálmán Makláry Fine Arts Gallery, which is extremely interesting both from the point of view of art history and art collectors. This picture represents a change of era in Reigl’s art. There is a waiting list for the pieces of the Age of Explosion, lucky private collectors fearfully guard these works. This is one of the most important periods in his oeuvre, the pieces of which enrich the collections of the MET, MOMA, Guggenheim in New York or the Pompidou Center in Paris.
At the event, interested parties can see not only paintings but also quality furniture, sculptures, antique books, jewelry and carpets. One of the most special items of the exhibition is a dinner set for 12 people that can be seen at the Nudelman Numismatica stand, which is decorated with the coat of arms of the Kossuth family. The original 230-piece silver dinnerware, covered with deerskin, stored in a wooden box with four drawers, may have been owned by Ferenc Kossuth (1841-1914), former minister of trade. The value of the incredibly spectacular artifact is HUF 16.5 million.
Among other things, Nemes Galéria is bringing one of the most significant works of Gyula Batthyány’s oeuvre to the fair. The painting’ Vihar a lóversenyen’ was hidden for almost 100 years and is one of Batthyány’s most modern works, closely related to contemporary art. The Art Deco work was previously owned by an American oil tycoon, who was able to receive the picture from the artist personally.
Initio Arts & Design Hantaï Simon is coming to the annual exhibition of the Hungarian art market with one of his paintings. The painting from 1971 is one of the most expensive works of the fair with its price of 260,000 euros, or approximately HUF 100 million. Simon Hantaï is one of the most expensive artists to sell in the whole world, his previous record was HUF 1.4 billion, which was paid for his work at a foreign auction. Art lovers were able to see his paintings at the exhibition of the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, and recently at the world-famous Gagosian Gallery in Rome, and the Judit Reigl exhibition of the Műcsarnok in Budapest, as well as at the HAB group exhibition. Simon Hantaï presented his ‘Aquarelles’ series in 1972 at Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris. The present work was found after more than 50 years in a private collection in France and is now available to Hungarian art collectors.
At the Nudelman Numismatica stand, the two textiles of Ilona Keserü, today’s celebrated fine art star, are also worthy of special attention. The artist re-imagined his previous work, We are going to Szentendré, made in 1979: he removed the background of the picture, and then placed the known motifs of the picture on it from colorful textiles.
Thousands of valuable and high-quality works from forty galleries await laymen and art collectors alike between February 29 and March 3, 2024, in the Bálna. As in previous years, Art and Antique is organizing a charity auction online for the Foundation for Ballet Students of the Opera House.
