There is a before and after Cicciolina, both in pornography and in Italian politics. But first we should ask what strange twist of fate causes women born in Hungary to be some of the most beautiful on the planet. It’s no joke. Hungarian women have a very particular grace and beauty that has made them perhaps the most desirable women in the world. Some of the most attractive porn actresses working today come from this country.

But to tell this story, we must go back in time. The history of pornography in Hungary dates from the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Until then, both production and distribution of pornography was illegal in communist Hungary. However the laws were changed with the arrival of “democracy” and these more permissive laws soon allowed this country to come to the forefront of the industry. Foreign directors were quick to take advantage of Hungary’s permissive laws, its low production costs and its large numbers of attractive actresses. 

However, the history of La Cicciolina dates from long before the Wall fell, and although her story is mainly connected to Italian culture and government, it is worth noting that she is from Budapest. In the 60′s she worked as a model in Hungary, and it wasn’t until the early 70′s that she began to develop her career in Italy. In the 80′s she starred in her first hardcore film and her fame grew even more. After this, she entered politics and, in 1987, was elected to the Italian parliament with more than twenty thousand votes. Her prime aims were to combat the nuclear threat and world hunger.

Among the most memorable moments of her time in parliament was the occasion she offered to have sex with Saddam Hussein in exchange for him releasing prisoners during the Gulf War. After failing to be elected again in 1991, she became one of the founders of the Partito dell’Amore, along with the porn actress, Moana Pozzi. Her further attempts to take an active part in politics failed, as did her offer to Osama bin Laden to have sex with him in exchange for an end to violence in the Middle East.

Although the successes of Cicciolina’s political career may have been negligible, her presence in the Italian parliament undoubtedly had an impact on European society. The fact that she found enough support to be able to crossover from the “underground” world of porn to the international political arena opened many people’s eyes to the true market size of pornography and its deep integration in contemporary culture. In pornography’s revelatory power of display, in its rawness, and in its blatant use of sexual intercourse as a means of production and capital, it explodes all society’s ideals, whether moral, political or religious about what sex means in our culture. La Cicciolina represented the impulse of downtrodden women everywhere to take control for themselves and wield some of the power in an industry, religion and world ruled by men.

Alexa Ray

There can be nothing better than renting apartments in Budapest and exploring this city, which, as well as being beautiful, is also the home of some of the best porn stars working today.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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Until the 25^thof September at the Műcsarnok Palace in Budapest, the exhibition: European Film Gateway is – The age of Hungarian Silent Film will be presented, in which we will be able to appreciate a selection of silent films, photographs, posters and a special collection of the Hungarian National films Archives which is part of the European film Gateway.

The exhibition is based on a project launched in September 2008 by the European Film Gateway, with the participation of 12 countries, which contributed 20 film archives, in order to organize the film heritage of Europe. The process of collecting and digitizing films, photographs and posters has had a great response, achieving the digitization of 790,000 pieces, among which there are 1,200 posters ranging from the early twentieth century until 1990. Visitors can check the multimedia content of the exhibition, including 200 hours of the films of Béla Balálzs Studios.

In the exhibition you can see the research about silent films, since many films have been lost and the only way of rescue them is through newspaper clippings, publications, photographs of the artists and all that plot production.

Also, you will be able to appreciate works rarely seen before, as the silent film version of Aranyember or Golden Man directed by Sandor Korda and scripted by Laszlo Vajda in 1918. This film marked a milestone in the Hungarian film industry because of its interesting work of acting direction. Korda became one of the most prominent men in the British film industry, to the point of being knighted by Queen Elizabeth because of his contribution during the Second World War.

Sandor Korda’s real name was Alexander, and he was born in Hungary in 1893. Son of a Jewish family, he worked as a journalist in the beginning of his carreer. He was an active participant in the formation of the Hungarian Socialist Republic. Since 1932 he lived in London and made films in several countries in Europe and in the United States.

Another silent film that has been preserved and displayed is Éjszaka by Utolsó or Last Night by the Hungarian director Jenő Janovics. Janovics was born in 1872 and belonged to a group of filmmakers from Transylvania. He was a film director, screenwriter and actor in silent films. He directed 30 films during the 20′s and the public acclaimed them all.

Aphrodite by the Hungarian director Alfred Deésy is another of the silent films that will be shown in this exhibition. This film was released in 1918. Deésyn was born in 1877 and worked in the film industry until his death in 1961. He was a film director, screenwriter and the most acclaimed Hungarian silent film actor. His films were famous for representing simple elements, always with a high burden of melodrama, which gave very good results with the public.

For more information

http://www.mucsarnok.hu/new_site/index.php?lang=en&t=586&curmenu=103

Nancy Guzman

If you like silent films, this exhibition is a good experience to enjoy. So stay in apartments in Budapest and attend this exhibition, delight yourself with the best of the silent film industry.

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Translated by: Hans
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The Ludwig Museum in Budapest offers another interesting example with the aim of promoting contemporary artistic movements from Eastern Europe. From September 14th until January 15, of 2012 you can visit the exhibition dedicated to Photorealism movement “East of Eden: Versions of Reality”.



Photorealism, which in Eastern Europe has acquired certain peculiarities, was an art movement born in the United States between the late ’60s and early ’70s. It was a type of painting that used photography as a starting point for creating highly realistic paintings, which creates a disorientation in the viewer when trying to understand the techniques used by the artist.

This movement evolved from Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism,and was heavily criticized at the time of its maximum expansion for the use of photography, but visual artists have used various instruments to support their work since the fifteenth century. Today, these criticisms would be unacceptable, as many contemporary artists do not produce their works, but they are commissioned, or also in other cases, create projects that involve a group of experts that add complexity and expertise to parts of the art piece  (whether they are scientific, professionals or ordinary people).

But the point is that the emergence of the photographic technique was a turning point for painting and was a very interesting development of this language: the inevitable impression of reality in film, photography was established as a representation tool of reality par excellence. The light was printed exactly as pictured in the environment, recreating it in a extremely faithful way. Paintings then, are free of obligations, for it  is endemic and could move farther and farther toward abstraction.

In Eastern Europe, the Photorealism art movement has been as strong as in the U.S. in the ’60s and ’70s, although the realistic representation was completely different because of the traditions and the specific conditions of these countries, in addition to trying to satisfy political demands.

One of the most interesting artists presented in this important group show certainly is Gérard Gasiorowski, an artist born in 1930 in Paris and who died in 1986. His greatest success was his first hyper-realistic paintings (in the exhibit the famous “L’Approche” from 1965 can be seen), but the next phase of his artistic development, which is released as a “suicide pictorial” where he is  trying to wipe off  the paint by heavily criticizing  Western traditio and the art market (“Albertine”, series from 1971).

You can find more information on the link

http://www.ludwigmuseum.hu/site.php?inc=kiallitas&kiallitasId=762&menuId=44

menschauser

If you wish to visit “East of Eden: Versions of Reality” I recommend that you rent apartments in Budapest and enjoy a stay in this interesting city and visit its multiple cultural offerings.

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Translated by: Marc
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The pleasures of wine are told from remote times. This pleasant drink has accompanied the whole world during millenniums and it’s a true traditional in a large part of the tables in the Western world. The relation of wine with culture are diverse and deep, as is its symbology that goes from the religious rituals to pagan and profane ones. It is, undoubtedly, the drink that blesses churches and turns into Christ’s blood, with the sacred elixir that encourages intoxication, poetical deliriums and sexual romance. And there’s nothing more exciting that wine to increase the temperatures at the time of making love. Many of the well-known poets have sung odes to wine and its delicacies, the chaos that it provokes, its magical power and the inspiration that it produces.

Charles Baudelaire, father of modern poetry without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the main poets that made of wine a constant subject and from which many lessons can be learned. In his poetry, wine is a powerful narcotic that not only becomes the inciter of lust and passions, the blood of the lamb that spills and drinks to reach those ‘Artificial Paradises’ that he talked about so much and he provoked with his harmonious and melancholic writings, but at the same time, in the voluptuous condition that, in the intoxication from wine, you can reach states of illumination and sacred pronunciation. That’s how wine provokes visions, brilliant ideas, even miraculous, and it’s the drink where dark and secret poetry reside.

That’s how the ancestral ceremonies to Baccus are a type of calling to the invocation of the unseen. The stupor that wine generates makes of the body a tame machinery for the gathering of imagination and dreams. And effectively, dreaming under the influences of wine becomes an experience that is blurred and filled with images of many colours. At the same time, wine incites lust and sexual desire in men and women, and is therefore the nocturnal drink that best favours romance. Imagine what it must be like to have some wine in Budapest and in the International Wine Festival. Certainly, a favourable moment for romance and to meet beautiful people who are open to adventure. This international festival takes place every year where thousands of exhibitors from around the world participate, as well as music, meetings and, above all, the animated participation of thousands of people searching for the perfect wine, the sweetest aroma that the mind can manage, romance and, who knows, maybe love too. For more information and the timetables of events of this festival on each day, visit this webpage:  http://www.aborfesztival.hu/

Alexa Ray

What better than getting apartments in Budapest and be part of this international festival with the best wine and where you will surely find someone with who to share it with and spend a moment of sensuality, party and beauty in one of the most romantic cities in the whole of Europe.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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The Hungarian National Museum has in its galleries the work of the 19th century Hungarian painter Károly Markó in the exhibition From Myth to image, which will be open to the public until October 2nd. The exhibition is commissioned by Hessky Orsolya, Bellák Gábor and Drago Zoltán and it’s a product of the cooperation of museums in Barcelona, Vienna, Bratislava, Copenhagen and Prague, as well as public and private collections that put forward to the disposal of the museum works of high value.

The exhibition enters the work of Markó in his mature phase, when he establishes his own style after his artistic experience in Italy and he comes close in a definitive way to European contemporary painting.

Károly Márko, known as “The Old Man”, was born in Levoce, currently Slovakia, in 1791. He studied in the Arts Academy in Vienna and in the Rome Academy, where he transformed into the most outstanding artist in landscape painting that was formed in that academy. His grandeur trespassed the borders of Europe, being considered by experts as the artifice of the Hungarian painting school and the artist of major influence and significance.

Following the fashion of the time, Markó spent large parts of his life in Italy, where a large amount of the European artists got together attracted by the art development there. Due to the valuation of his work, he was named a member of the Academy in Florence, Venice and Arezzo,. where he left a school that followed his composing, lighting and thematic lines.

He was also invited to give class in the San Carlos Academy in Mexico as a teacher of landscape due to his exquisite work of luminosity, color and composition. But despite the tempting offer, he decided to hand over the invitation to his disciple, Landesio, who transmitted the formation that he’d received by Markó in his painting classes.

Markó’s painting took scenes that put as a pretext a scene of mythology or religiousness to outline and fixate the attention to the landscape, which is represented in panoramic views dominated by warm lights and nature details.

The influence that Markó had among the painters of the time was huge. The handling of the light in his landscapes and the composition make of his work one of the most interesting ones of the 19th century, to the point that through Landesio he left his print among the painters that transported the Roman landscape to the Mexico Valley and its volcanos, like various heirs of this tradition did.

Visegrád is one of the most famous paintings by Markó because it captures in an incredible way the luminosity of the mountain landscape that is located in the sinuosity of the Danube, in Hungarian territory. This painting is considered a cultural icon in the region and it reproduces with authenticity the peculiar topography of the place.

For more information: http://www.mng.hu/en/exhibitions/marko_nyito_en

Nancy Guzman

If you don’t know the work by Károly Markó, I invite you to come to the Hungarian National Museum if you’re around the area and enjoying apartments in Budapest There you can see that landscapes that made this painter famous.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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The Hungarian National Museum exhibits until the 16th of October its collection of prints and drawings from the period of 1900-1925. The exhibition “Painting on paper” is curated by Eszter Földi and Ferenc Zsákivics, it contains more than eighty thousand books and documents that due to the fragility of the paper cannot be on permanent display.

However, these works will be shown during the next six years, with six-month renovation on each one to accompany the permanent exhibition of paintings and sculptures of the twentieth century.

Throughout the historical period covered by this sample, watercolors have a significant presence in the Hungarian art; at least, this is what can be seen in the works and sketches that compose this archive.

Watercolor is a technique that requires great skill and training to achieve proficiency with the paintbrush and the mixing of colors on paper. The works made with this technique are performed in a single session. The difference between watercolor and drawing is that the stain on watercolor replaces the stroke, so it requires much more training in the preparation of colors and sketches.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, the art nouveau entered into the art scene and many artists added to this current, which renews the design, drawing, painting and all forms of art. The artists of the city of Gödöllő were those who integrated watercolor sketches and illustrations in line of art nouveau as Mihály Rezso´s illustrations based on a story.

In 1910 watercolor begins to be less used by the Impressionists, despite this, many artists kept the use of techniques that allow the use of watercolor.
The avant-garde artist Gizella Dömötör has several remarkable works of this kind. Dömötör was born in Budapest in 1894 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in the same city. Married to the artist Hugo Mund, they both participated actively in the Hungarian avant-garde, by following French modernists and adding themselves to cubism and expressionism. In the 30´s, they immigrated to Argentina.

The interwar time was the most significant period for painting and engraving of the twentieth century in Hungary. The most precious works in terms of aesthetic and artistic value that the National Museum owns belong to this period, because the terrible economic situation of the time was linked with the decline in art sales, as well as the decline of art galleries and markets.

The Surrealists Béla Bán, Endre Bálintc, Lajos Vajda, Margit Anna and Imre Amos recorded the horrors of World War II in watercolors, gouache and ink. Today their works are in the archives of prints and drawings.

For more information http://www.mng.hu/en/exhibitions/grafika_akvarell_en

Nancy Guzman

This exhibition is a great alternative to learn the history and culture of Hungary and Europe through art, so if you’re in apartments in Budapest come to appreciate this wonderful collection of watercolors and prints.

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Translated by: Hans
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Until the 4^th of September, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest will display an innovative exhibition that is already considered as one of the most exciting artistic productions of its kind. Art on Lake exhibits 25 works by artists from 14 European Union countries, which are screened outdoors at City Park Boating Lake.

The contemporary art exhibition continues the tradition of giving local artists the right to display their works. That is why this project has been planned during three last years in cooperation with the EU and the Government of Hungary, whose organization went to the Museum of Fine Arts.

This project has been considered as an extension of the Museum in public spaces. This exhibition changes the walls and corridors of the traditional museums for 35 thousand square meters of natural environment in the middle of the city. In this environment, artists from Belgium, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Romania, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Italy, England, Austria and Hungary present the best of their work.

The exhibited works are focused in giving visibility to the pressing problems of our time, while giving a positive look at the solutions they might have. In the selection process of the guest artists and their works for the exhibition were involved the Municipal Gallery director Peter Fitz, art historian and curator Krisztina Jerger and independent art historian and exhibition organizer Alexander Tolnay.

In the long list of participating artists are: Susana Solano and Jaume Plensa from Spain, Patrick Poirier from France, Günter Uecker, Via Lewandowsky and Willi Weiner from Germany, Daniel Knorr from Romania, Kristof Kintera from the Czech Republic, The Hungarian artists Róza El-Hassan, Zeno Kelemen, Ilona Németh and Balázs Kicsiny, among many others.

The conceptual sculptures are scattered around the lake and the page http://www.artonlake.hu/ shows a map of the distribution of the works, the artist and a photo of the sculpture.

Susana Solano’s work, one of the best representatives of contemporary Spanish sculpture, has an interesting poetical approach referred to the human burden due to the limited natural space in modern cities. It is composed by two elements and the nature of the place that completes the meaning of the work. It consists of a white plane floating on the lake and on it a white boat.

Each sculpture is a visual poetry, there are small floating gardens, metal butterflies perched on the lake, suspended in the water jars, candles that are deployed on the lake, etc. All of them appeal to the beauty of nature and the need to preserve it.

For more information http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=846

Nancy Guzman

Art on Lake is a great show not to be missed if you are on holiday in apartments in Budapest Enjoy the most beautiful natural environment of the city.

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Translated by: Hans
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Festivals can also be a way to maintain the spirit of an important cultural tradition and keep it alive. Not everything is the market, industry and noise this summer, there are also options, although a bit more classic and traditional, that grant you the opportunity to enjoy with other people a different culture, or maybe yours, and learn a bit more and even enjoy with the family.

That’s how, the Jewish Summer Festival has been taking place in Budapest since 1998 thanks to the organization of the Cultural Centre of Jewish Tourism which is in the city. The centre of all festivities is no less than the Synagogue on Dohany Street, possibly the biggest and most spectacular synagogue in Europe. The synagogue isn’t just one of the most beautiful places to visit in Budapest but also an ancestral symbol of Jewish culture in the city. Much before they began to organize the festival, concerts already took place in this synagogue. However, it wasn’t until they had the initiative of this festival that the synagogue became a true concert hall. As part of the organization of the festival, one has to highlight that in 2006 they inaugurated the synagogue on Rumbach Sebestyen street to the public, built by the Viennese architect Otto Wagner, and therefore attracting even more visitors and public in general.

At the festival, Jewish culture is represented by different performances, concerts, exhibitions, open air programmes for the younger ones, crafts, book market and other artistic forms. As the centre of all events, the musical genre Klezmer is put forward. Klezmer is a genre that comes from the Jewish-Hebrew tradition from Eastern Europe. This style is played by professional musicians called klezmorim. The genre consists especially in dance and instrumental pieces for weddings and other celebrations. Although the genre has its origins in Eastern Europe, this style in particular has been developed more and was made popular in the United States during the Yiddish Jews immigrations between 1880 and 1924. However, little is known about the true origins of this folkloric music which is so unique and cheerful.

With the years, the festival hasn’t stopped growing and it’s still expanding. This year’s programme has renown international artists. Budapest is, undoubtedly, the best place for this type of festival. Its streets never cease to have an aura of light and charm during the summer. The walks in Budapest always become infinite and the options to have fun never end. This Jewish Summer Festival is just another occasion for which the city is visited by many more tourists, and not just Jewish ones. With every year that goes by, the city keeps becoming more and more cosmopolitan, without losing its traditional and romantic style. Maybe that’s why this festival is so welcome here. For more information and programmes of this event, you can visit the festival’s webpage and there you can also find information on tickets, artists and other activities.

http://www.zsidonyarifesztival.hu/

Alexa Ray

The best thing is to get apartments in Budapest and not miss out on the chance to be part of one of the most interesting festivals this summer. You can also meet beautiful people everywhere. Summer in Budapest is like a dream.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Comprehensive collection of Esterházy forms the basis of the museum which was acquired in 1870 by the Hungarian state. Emperor Franz Joseph inaugurated the museum again in 1906. Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herzog were the two architects, who created this masterwork of architecture and gave it a perfect symmetry. Later, in 1934 the museum, which includes some god’s sculptures, amulets and scarabs, was thoroughly expanded.

Originally the museum had only drawings, prints and paintings, but the first director, Károly Pulszky began with the acquisition of sculptures. With the purchase of the collection of Paul Arndt in 1908, a collection of antiquities was founded. If you want to visit an artistic place, it is it, as it has a magnificent collection of about 100 000 works of art which have been collected through donations and acquisitions of its own. An exhibition of contemporary and modern art, in an equally exceptional manner is a famous fact of the place.

Particularly noteworthy is the Graphic Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts houses. More than 10,000 graphics and more than 100,000 stitches are housed here. Works by Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso could be found in graphics.

The Museum of Fine Arts is a home to the relics of antiquity with unique collection class. The Egyptian Antiquities Department, the Old Gallery, the Old Sculpture Department, the Graphics Department and the Modern Division – are famous works of art series all over the world. Equally famous is the Department of Spanish and Italian painting along with the collection of German paintings. There are some other great works in the painting field inside the museum by some famous painters such as Raphael, Picasso, Tiepolo, Cezanne and El Greco. Coffins of mummies could also be discovered inside the museum. There are 3,000 pieces to show how the paint has developed in Europe between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Besides Egyptian and Roman collections, the museum displays the art of ancient times which is pretty impressive in its own. The Museum of Fine Arts was designed in neoclassical style and its eight-column portico and entry remind Greece and Rome. The interior architecture of the museum is extremely striking and makes the visit worthwhile. The gallery includes today more than 600 valuable paintings as the distant past. There is also a cloakroom, a cafe, souvenir shop and a public library inside the building.

Address: 1146 Budapest, Dózsa György út 41

Telephone: +364697100

Opening Hours:

Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5:30 pm.

The Palace of Art: Open from 10 to 18, closed on Mondays.

On the evenings, the institution’s special events, guided tours, await visitors.

Entry Fees: Free

The Palace of the Arts: 2.40 euros, free with the Budapest Card.

Website: www.szepmuveszeti.hu

John

For quite a few years now, visitors from all over the world are coming here in large numbers because of the eye catchy beauty of the museum. So why not rent apartments in Budapest and make your visit more relaxing and glorious?

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The Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest will display until the 12^th of September an exhibition called The Eight, which includes works by the Group of Eight, whose works represent the best of the Hungarian art inspired by the French modernist currents from the last century. People will have the opportunity to appreciate newly discovered and restored works by some of the artists of this important group.

The story of the meeting of these eight artists dates back to 1909, when they met in the first avant-garde art exhibition in Budapest, in which the audience discovered this talented group of young artists who introduced Cubism and Expressionism, while breaking the classicism of the Hungarian painting.

The Group of Eight was formed by Róbert Berény, Béla Czóbel, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, Bertalan Pór, Dezső Czigány, Lajos Tihanyi and Károly Kernstok. They were inspired by Henri Matisse and Paul Cezane, considered the fathers of Fauvism, because of their chromatic exaltation based on the color theory that established the primary, secondary and complementary colors.

The impact caused by the Group of Eight in the Hungarian culture was crucial for the development of the modern arts and intellectual vanguard. In their three exhibitions, they gathered artists from various disciplines and intellectual trends among which were the composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, the poet Endre Ady and the philosopher György Lukács.

Róbert Berény was well known for his portrait of the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, which was painted in 1913. As well as all members of the Group of Eight, Berény performed several activities in music and literature that were never known. After the fall of the republic in 1919, he immigrated to Berlin, along with many other artists and writers from Hungary. In 1926 he returned to Hungary and won the Szinnyei award in 1936. During World War II, his workshop was destroyed and many of his works were lost forever.

Czóbel Béla was a member of the Group of Eight who was considered as a regarded member of the exclusive Ecole de Paris, a group of the greatest painters of the twentieth century.

Dezső Czigány of gypsy origin studied painting in Paris and dedicated himself to painting portraits and dead nature. His suicide after killing his family condemned his work to ostracism, and that is why it is hard to find his works and references.

Lajos Tihanyi was a painter, illustrator and autodidact lithographer, because he never was able to study due to his condition as deaf-muted person. He was Cubism, although he changed his current through the years.

All painters of the Group of Eight performed wonderful works and were enormously prolific. Many of their works were destroyed during the Second World War.

For more information http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=877

Nancy Guzman

An interesting entertainment proposal for this summer. Rent apartments in Budapest and come to discover the paintings of the Group of Eight and its influence in the Hungarian art.

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Translated by: Hans
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