|
Márkus, Géza
(b Budapest, 6 April 1872; d Budapest, 8 Dec 1912). Hungarian architect and designer. He worked from the age of 17 as a drawing assistant, first with the master builder József Gutwillig and then with Vilmos Freund (1846–1920) in Budapest. His decorative talent led him to become assistant to Alajos Hauszmann, one of the leading Hungarian exponents of late Eclecticism, whom he assisted in designing the Court of Justice (1891–6; now Museum of Ethnography), Budapest. After 1896 Márkus worked independently and was also active as a critic. The most significant and characteristic of his few surviving buildings is the ‘Ornate House’ (1902), Kecskemét, a former casino and residential block, which now houses the Kecskemét Gallery. It is two storeys high, and its façades bear striking moulded forms reminiscent of the folk pottery of the district. The decoration of fiery coloured enamels from the ZSOLNAY CERAMICS FACTORY follows a pattern of embroidery motifs. The roof, chimney tops and dormer windows are virtually non-figurative ceramic sculptures. The ornamented façade of the Erdey Sanatorium (1904), Bakács Square, Budapest, although similarly conceived, is not quite as organically assembled. Between 1904 and 1908 Márkus took part in the reconstruction of a number of theatres and entertainment halls in Budapest, such as the rebuilding of the Orfeum as the Royal Theatre, the internal refurbishment of the Jardin de Paris music hall and of the Endre Nagy cabaret (with Frigyes Spiegel; all destr.; see Gerle, Kovács and Makovecz, pp. 134–6). His last work, the People’s Opera House (1911–12; now rebuilt as the Erkel Theatre), on which he was assisted by KOMOR & JAKAB, contained Hungary’s first auditorium in reinforced concrete. Márkus also designed memorials, sepulchres (e.g. tomb of Sándor Erkel, 1904, and tomb of János Jankó, 1905; both Budapest, Kerepesi Cemetery; both with Ede Kallós, sculptor) and innovative stage sets, but he is best known as one of the first and perhaps most original followers of the fin-de-siècle movement, associated with Ödön Lechner, to develop a Hungarian national style.
|
