open-air exhibition: The “Coloured Sunlight”
21 Oct - 20 Dec 2022
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21 Oct - 20 Dec 2022 〰️
Exhibition: The Coloured Sunlight
Date and place: Sophus Lies gate 3 / 21 OCT-20 DEC
Artist: Miksa Róth (26 December 1865 – 14 June 1944)
In the beginning of the 20th century, Miksa Róth established and led a workshop renowned for reviving glass and mosaic art in Hungary,a status reached through a stunning array of works. After first learning his craft in the workshop of Zsigmond Roth, his father, the artist also spent time in England, France and Germany, where he studied medieval works of stained glass.
In 1885, Miksa Róth founded his own workshop and soon received a number of commissions due to the wave of construction that overtook Budapest following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. Decorative elements intended to grace buildings erected for economic or administrative purposes, churches, synagogues, cafés, private homes or blocks of luxury flats were all crafted in his workshop.
From the end of the 1890s, Miksa Róth was the first artist in the Austro- Hungarian Empire to adopt the new type of glass invented by L.C. Tiffany, a material he utilized with great originality while also introducing mosaics to Hungary. His most significant works can be seen in distinguished buildings, such as the Hungarian Parliament, or the venerated Chapel of the Holy Right Hand of St . St Stephen, located in the Royal Palace. In Budapest, the Academy of Music, the former headquarters of the Gresham Insurance Company and the Lipótmező Chapel also features Róth creations. His mosaics grace numerous mausoleums and tombs located in the Fiume Road National Graveyard, as well as many found in the Kozma Road Cemetery.
Abroad, Róth works can be viewed in Hungary’s Gallery of Art in Venice as well as in the Palace of Culture located in Târgu Mureș, Romania. Miksa Róth worked side-by-side with some of the most prestigious architects and painters of his time; it comes as no surprise that Róth’s workshop was commissioned to create the glass ceiling for Mexico’s National Theatre, designed by the architect, Géza Maróti, in 1910. The accolades and successes reaped during the course of Miksa Róth’s artistic career turned to tragedy following the outbreak of World War II. Forced by the 1939 Anti-Jewish Laws to close the doors of his workshop, Róth died in his home in 1944.
