The Textile Work of Mariska Undi

Illustration: Mariska Undi. Hunting for the Wonderdeer.

Mariska Undi is perhaps better known as a Hungarian artist and one of the key members of the Godollo Arts & Crafts community. However, she was also a campaigner and champion of the applied arts medium and was personally involved in a number of projects that had textiles at their heart.

Throughout her career, she had a particular and constant interest in the folk art traditions of her native Hungary. She published a number of books throughout her life dealing with the traditional textile crafts that was so much a part of the folk tradition, particularly those dealing with both weaving and embroidery, which were strong elements within the Hungarian indigenous craft system. Many of the motifs and pattern work that she included as illustrations within her publications were in fact collected by herself from various corners of rural Hungary.

Illustration: Mariska Undi.

This interest in the ongoing folk art traditions of Hungary, were often seen in her own textile work. The two large textile pieces shown here, both produced by Undi, show the relatively flat, almost graphic perspective that is often seen within the folk art genre. A number of the subjects deal with admittedly idealised versions of traditional Hungarian life as seen from an early twentieth century perspective. This contemporary view of an idyllic past peopled by both nobles and peasants was not unique to Hungary and does in part originate with the Arts & Crafts movement and its penchant for golden pasts from a range of indigenous cultures across Europe. However, the style portrayed by Undi and others within Hungary is reminiscent of the Slav based folk art decorative style that was so popular across the whole of eastern Europe and the Russian Empire, though it must be said that Hungarians themselves were not of Slavic origin.

What is interesting about the Undi textile pieces shown here is the fact that the border of the composition is so large. This border which is made up of ornamental motifs, plays such a large part in the composition, making up at least half of the coverage, that it cannot be ignored and should instead be taken as an integral part of the piece with its patterned motif adding to the composition rather than, as is traditional, framing it. Although the pieces shown here are completely different narratively, and to a certain extent stylistically speaking, they do still share the same emphasis of the large border with the positive and striking motif pattern work.

Illustration: Mariska Undi. Butterfly Prince.

These Undi textile pieces give us an indication of the creative landscape of early twentieth century Hungary. It speaks of a culture that felt pride in both its past glories and with that of its present status within modern Europe. However, the contemporary culture was also proud of the history of the many ordinary and largely anonymous everyday Hungarians, many of whom had added to the creative folk art traditions of the country. These countless generations had built up a living library of motifs and pattern work that contemporary artists such as Mariska Undi, could use within their work, still expressing their own creative ability while paying homage to all the generations of nameless folk artists of Hungary.

Further reading links:
The Art Colony of Godollo 1901- 1920   
Art Nouveau in Hungary
Hungarian Art Nouveau
Hungarian Folk Art
Hungarian Folk Designs for Embroiderers and Craftsmen (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Britain and Hungary 3: Contacts in Architecture, Design, Art and Theory during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Essays and Studies
A Pictorial History of Hungarian Art
Hungarian Decorative Folk Art
Folk Art in Hungarian Cemeteries
Hungarian peasant art,
Old Hungarian Stove Tiles (Hungarian Art)
A concise history of Hungarian art
The history of Hungarian art in the twentieth century
Old Hungarian Art