Cover Page Design for the Periodical Magyar Iparművészet (Hungarian Applied Arts)

We find this watercolor by Henrik Pap amongst the designs submitted to the cover page design competition announced in 1897 for the periodical Magyar Iparművészet. The committee proclaimed Pál Horti the winner of the competition in Budapest on the second of November 1897. Pap made the symmetrical composition of this colorful design densely decorated with organic elements with typographical considerations in mind, so that the work would be beautiful, clear, and easily understandable. The title of the periodical can be read in the upper third of the image in dark red, upper-case Art Nouveau lettering, “MAGYAR / IPARMŰVÉSZET”, with the letters of the GY and SZ digraphs combined. The title is surrounded by an organic rectangular frame with intertwining branches, green leaves, and stylized blue flowers arranged symmetrically. Below this organic frame, the trunks of the aforementioned brown branches make a square frame that contains the information on the periodical in dark red. Below this square, there are implements symbolizing the applied arts and the three escutcheons of art in a circular green frame. There are symmetrically placed stylized plants stretching upwards with green tendrils, leaves, and blue flowers on either side in the middle section. Roots twisted around one another in the lower section also make up an organic frame for the text, “KIADJA / A MAGYAR IPARMŰVÉSZETI TÁRSULAT” (PUBLISHED BY / THE HUNGARIAN ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED ARTS). The letters on the lower lines are slightly separated from one another, so the text is airier and more graceful. There is a mark on the lower left, “Weinwurm A. F. H” and an inscription on the back, “designed for Magyar Iparművészet by Henrik Pap, 1898”.