Cover Page for the periodical Magyar Iparművészet (Hungarian Applied Art) 1914/3.

Sándor Nagy was a founder of one of the most important workshops of Hungarian Art Nouveau, the Gödöllő artists’ colony, and was a multifaceted, influential artist. On this cover page designed for the periodical Magyar Iparművészet in 1914, the text is entirely subordinated to the ornamentation, which fills every surface. Two allegorical figures of art stand around a blazing fire below the title, essentially nurturing it, and their clothing reflects the ancient Hungarian past. Below the flames are geometric forms as well as stylized plant, human, and animal forms, and the Hungarian crest can even be discerned. The ornamental green frame around the text and the central image is comprised of floral tendrils and frightening masks on its two sides, while the frieze areas above and below are made up of crouching gnomes. The artist’s monogram can be seen in the lower right-hand corner below the foot of a monstrous figure. Masks made up of floral elements can be found in other works by Sándor Nagy, including the decorative motifs of the stained-glass windows at the Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureş (Marosvásárhely). He calls these ornaments “fantastical knick-knacks” in the pages of the color supplement to issue 2 of 1914 of the periodical Díszítőművészet (Decorative Art), thereby ending further discussion on their analysis.