Several of our posts have already given a glimpse into our collection and its development. This time, we are presenting a small, but all the more prominent section, and we would like to tell the story of the expansion of a collection through donations: the Miklós Mészöly – Alaine Polcz section.
It is true that a collection is built and formed with a specific intention - a knowledgeable eye selects the pieces of the collection. And sometimes the collection grows together with the collector as part of a lifetime: new pieces arrive as gifts, for occasions or out of gratitude, or maybe just as a gesture, and the collector also gives away individual works - sometimes the most valuable ones. Such was the case with the living collection of Miklós Mészöly and Alaine Polcz, which reflected the couple's shared – as Mészöly put it – "passion for looking at pictures". We cannot speak of a conscious collection, rather, this unique group was formed through the mentioned gifts, both from the point of view of art history and literature history, since we can get to know their artistic relations through the couple's circle of friends. The collection of 40 works includes works by artists such as Endre Bálint, György Jovánovics, Lajos Sváby, Árpád Szabados, István Szőnyi or Júlia Vajda.
The collection, created over many years, came to KOGART in 2007, directly as a donation from Alaine Polcz. Polcz, who was already seriously ill at the time, approached Gábor Kovács through a mutual acquaintance, and they met several times. At the same time, Polcz wanted to know their collection so that it would not be lost after his death, so knowing the work of the Foundation, he wanted the works to find a new home with us. Unfortunately, Alaine Polcz passed away in the same year, but at that time 39 pieces of the collection were kept by KOGART. He only gave the "Angel" (a work of Endre Bálint) as a gift to Alaine's late secretary, whom he constantly asked to give her, somewhat misunderstanding her answer: "Give me your angels!" However, after the collection was transferred to KOGART and Alaine Polcz died - so that the angels could be together - this work also returned to the Miklós Mészöly - Alaine Polcz Collection as a donation.
It is a great honor and task to take care of such a material, which we exhibited at the KOGART House in the year of the donation, at the end of 2007. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalog in which, in addition to the presentation of the works and the search for the relations of the Mészöly couple, a final interview was published, which Alaine Polcz gave to KOGART as her final gift.