The exhibition shows works by the Hungarian artists Pál Deim, ef István Zámbó, László Fehér, György Jovánovics, István Nádler, Gyula Pauer and Erzsébeth Vojnich, as well as the Slovakian artists Ondrej Bartko, Daniel Brunovsky, Peter Pollág and Viktor Hulík, and the Hungarian minority artists in Slovakia István Balázs, Péter Gáspár, Klaudia Kosziba and Péter Rónai. The show also features texts about tolerance in both Hungarian and Slovakian written by Lajos Grendel, Ágnes Heller, György Spiró, Endre Kukorelly, Daniel Hevier, Peter Jaros, Ladislav Torma and Kazo Kanala.
The exhibition's chief patrons are István Hiller and Marek Madaric, the culture ministers of Hungary and the Czech Republic, respectively. The show was the opening event of a campaign entitled Let's Take the First Step - with Culture for Good Slovak-Hungarian Relations.
Danubiana Meuelensteen Art Museum owner Gerard Meulensteen was presented a Pro Cultura Hungarica award by sate secretary in charge of international relations at the Ministry of Education and Culture Katalin Bogyay at the opening of the exhibition. She acknowledged the spirit of the exhibition, which sends a message about tolerance and the rejection of violence.
Meulensteen, a Dutch businessman and art lover, also supported the Hungarian Art 1980-2007 exhibition two years ago. The exhibition was the biggest ever of Hungarian art in Slovakia. Last year, the Danubiana museum showed for the first time in Central Europe the collected works of Zoltán Kemény, a Hungarian-born sculptor lives in Switzerland, and of his wife Madeleine Kemény-Szemere, a painter.
Danubiana will continue its efforts to present Hungarian art in Slovakia. Next year, works of the painter Ilona Keserű will be shown. Between 2010 and 2012, a joint Austrian-Hungarian-Slovak art exhibition will be created.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
