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Ceramic plaque by Margit Kovács on a block of flats in Budapest
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The Hungarian potter Margit Kovács (1902-77) studied ceramics in Vienna, Munich, Copenhagen and Paris. Her sculpture is rooted in Hungarian folk art and makes references to religion and family life. There are collections in Győr, her birthplace, and in Szentendre, the pretty artists' town just outside Budapest, which I visited in August.
Her work is in earthenware, some of it with tin glaze, like the piece above. Her later work is unglazed and uses a coarsely grogged, pink-firing clay. Kovács's work is charming, simple, stylised, strongly-conceived and well-executed.
Although I went to Szentendre on St. Stephen's day, the big Hungarian holiday, there were few people in the light, airy museum in Vastagh Gyorgy street. Perhaps they were more interested in the visit of Otto von Habsburg, the former crown prince of Austria. That may have been a bigger draw in a country where you can still see graffiti saying "No to Trianon!"
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