HOMMAGE
À TIVADAR MÁRK
Life-Work Exhibition from the material of the Memorial Collection of the Hungarian
State Opera House and the Theatre History Collection of the National Széchényi
Library
Opera House, May 11, 2003 – September 27, 2006
A
retrospective exhibition was opened in the Opera House where the 95-year-old
artist could be present in May 2003.
Tivadar Márk (May 11, 1908 – September 27, 2003) was a costume designer,
holder of the Kossuth Prize, of the Merited and Eminent Artist Prize, a lifelong
member of the Opera House.
His activity was inseparable from the past 70 years of the Opera House. Generations
of theatre-goers grew up on the high-level visual art of opera performances.
In this period the masters of the magnificent scenery were Gusztáv Oláh, Zoltán
Fülöp and Tivadar Márk, whose designs meant remarkable and long lasting experiences
for the public.
Tivadar Márk graduated at the College of Applied Arts in textile design in 1932. Soon he was invited to work as costume attendant at the Hungarian Royal Opera House by Klára Zsindely-Tüdős, here he became assistant to the renowned designers Gusztáv Oláh and Zoltán Fülöp. He learned a lot from his masters, first of all the status of character in the context of the plot and the visuality of the performance. His first independent work was designing the costumes for Musorgsky’s Hovanschchina in 1936. From 1938 he worked as appointed costume designer and head of the costume workshop till 1945. From 1958 he became chief designer until his retirement in 1981 but he kept being active further on. He taught at the opera faculty of the Academy of Music between 1957 and 1984 with intervals. He also worked for prosaic productions, for open-air theatres regularly and designed costumes for more than 20 films (including Lúdas Matyi, Déryné, Gábor diák, Háry János, Katonazene, Csínom Palkó). He also achieved success in many theatres abroad, among others at the opera houses of Vienna, Rome, Melbourne, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) and even in Chile.
The works of famous Hungarian composers (Ferenc Erkel, Béla
Bartók) are represented in his exceptionally rich life-work beside the operas
of Giuseppe Verdi and other Italian masters. The genre of ballet was also one
of his favourite fields. The beautiful pieces of his oeuvre (approx. 6,000 items)
are the valuable records of the scenic collection belonging to the Theatre History
Collection.
Our aim was to give a comprehensive presentation of a nearly 50-year long artistic
career with displaying the most important and spectacular designs. Some of these
marvellous costumes can be admired recently on the stage of the Opera House
as several performances are running with Tivadar Márk’s splendid creations.
The exhibition also offers an insight to the designer’s workshop. We can
see the different phases of the creating of characters’ costumes, like
searching for colours and materials in accordance with the other visual elements
of the performance.
The exhibition
was arranged by Olga Somorjai and Nóra Wellmann
Designer: Gábor Bíró
