The Life and Career of Zoltán Gosztonyi, Woodcarver and Master of Folk Art
1.1 Zoltán Gosztonyi’s Formation As a Woodcarver
He was born in Kaposvár on 14 March 1952.
He spent his childhood in Balatonszemes, where his mother, who hailed from Transylvania, worked as a teacher. Margit Mihály, a cantor-teacher, with her literary cultivation, respect for tradition, and strongly formative personality, played a decisive role in shaping the child’s character, intellectual interests, and cultural horizons. In his book Szarvasösvényen (lit. On the Deer Path), he reflects on her as follows:
“…through her affection, practical wisdom, deep knowledge of folk culture, her enchanting world of stories, her beautiful handicrafts, and her knowledge of medicinal plants, she provided me with an enduring model for life.”
The years spent in Balatonszemes, with its then still largely rural environment, provided early familiarity with peasant ways of life and tradition. His apprenticeship in carving began at an early age. As a small child, using a little pocket knife [1] already suitable for carving, he made simple toys for himself, such as a ‘blincke’ [2] sharpened at both ends, and later a slingshot. He soon became familiar with the properties of different types of wood. In the local history study group at school, students engaged in learning about, collecting, and drawing peasant artefacts. Drawing and paper cutting were among his favourite pastimes.
The craft of carpentry captivated him at an early age; he had wished to enter into apprenticeship at a neighbouring carpenter’s workshop, but at his mother’s request, he instead enrolled in a secondary grammar school. He first studied in Siófok, where, under the guidance of Árpád Együd [3], he began learning folk dance in the junior ensemble of the Balaton Dance Group. In 1969, the family moved to Kaposvár, where, as a secondary-school student, he became a dancer in the Somogy Dance Group.
After completing the secondary school leaving examination, he trained as an electronics technician. He regularly visited the carpentry workshop adjacent to the training workshop, where wooden pattern models required for casting were produced. With the assistance of the pattern-making carpenters, he became acquainted with various hardwood species and learned the fundamentals of carpentry on a self-taught basis.
As his interest in carving intensified, he began attending the carving study groups operating in Kaposvár. These were led by the woodcarvers István Szőke [4] and László Vargha [5], both Masters of Folk Art, from whom he learned the fundamentals of Somogy shepherd carving as well as the techniques of carving, chiselling, and relief carving. They advised him to consult the Somogy Collection of the Kaposvár library, where he found specialist literature that enabled him to deepen his knowledge of Somogy folk art and of shepherd art more generally. His skills as a carver proved to be a modest advantage during his years of military service, as he made small carved objects for fellow soldiers and superiors alike, which in turn encouraged him to continue his work. In 1976, he obtained a formal qualification in computer programming and worked as a programmer in Kaposvár until the regime change. However, in his free time, he increasingly devoted himself to carving.
In the 1970s, a new demand and a new set of challenges emerged among young practitioners engaged in folk art. The folk decorative arts movement, developing in parallel with the táncház movement [a movement related to ‘casual’ Hungarian folk-dance events {as opposed to stage performances}; it is an aspect of the Hungarian roots revival of traditional culture which began in the early 1970s], sought to return to the ‘pure source’, to the already vanished traditions of folk art, in order to renew itself through them. The new generation of woodcarvers, whose members were no longer born into traditional peasant society but were mostly young people educated in urban environments and often holding a vocational qualification, regarded the market-driven, inauthentic style of the previous decades as flawed and unacceptable. Zoltán Gosztonyi was a typical representative of this generation. In folk art camps, working collaboratively and supporting one another, they searched for new directions. Their points of reference were found in the scholarly literature on folk art and in museum collections. For woodcarvers, such camps were first organised in Sárospatak and later in Tokaj. Following his years of military service, Zoltán Gosztonyi had attained a level of proficiency that allowed him to submit some of his carvings to the jury of the Council of Folk Applied Arts (Népi Iparművészeti Tanács, NIT). He aspired to obtain the title and qualification of Young Master of Folk Art, and therefore submitted his application repeatedly over a number of years. In 1977 he was awarded a certificate in the competition, which brought him an invitation to the Tokaj Artists’ Camp. This was followed by further participation in subsequent woodcarvers’ camps.
At the Tokaj camp, under the guidance of the sculptor László Péterfi, playground figures were carved. At these camps, he became acquainted with carving styles from other regions; among other techniques, he learned chip carving, which enabled him to produce a children’s room furniture set for his daughter (a Kalotaszeg-style téka [a small, traditionally wall-mounted wooden cupboard used in folk interiors for storing valuables, books, or devotional objects], cradle, and rocking chair) in 1979, with some external assistance from a carpenter. In 1980, this furniture set was awarded a Category B classification by the jury of the NIT.
1.2 The Stages of Learning Woodcarving
From the early 1980s onwards, he took part in competitions, exhibitions, folk art conferences, and above all in the work of folk-art camps, where he still had the opportunity to meet prominent representatives of the Kapoli generation and to gain experience from them. In Gébárt in Zala County and in Szőcsénypuszta in Somogy County, he learned important professional techniques and accepted guidance from several older, highly experienced woodcarvers. In 1984, he completed the secondary school leaving examination in the Secondary Vocational Evening School of Wood Technology for Workers in Kaposvár.
In his life, the 1980s may be regarded as a period of intensive exploration, a process that can be traced through the series of objects he submitted for jury review. While he regarded the tradition of Somogy shepherd art as his point of departure, in terms of ornamentation, he did not follow the decorative style characteristic of any renowned Somogy woodcarver, nor that of earlier stylistic phases of Somogy shepherd art. Instead, he familiarised himself with a range of materials, increasingly favouring bone and antler, and later horn. He learned a wide variety of decorative techniques, from Spanish-wax inlay and yellowing with nitric acid, through incising and relief carving, to openwork patterns created by sawing, some of which became his preferred techniques. He sought new functions and the object forms suited to these functions, and by the end of the decade, he had laid the foundations of his own distinctive ornamental vocabulary. With this approach, he aligned himself closely with those contemporary groups of young practitioners who held views on folk art that diverged from more traditional conceptions [6].
The group of works submitted for jury review in 1982 shows that he had already experimented with all the principal materials, wood, gourd, bone, antler, and cattle horn, and had explored the forms, structural principles, and decorative techniques associated with objects of differing functions.
Ivókobak from Somogy [a traditional Hungarian shepherd’s drinking vessel made from the hollowed and polished skull of a goat or sheep], with incised and darkened ornamentation, jury-reviewed in 1982.
At this stage, the applied ornamentation is still rather limited in its range; it is particularly striking that he repeatedly employs a single three-petalled floral motif, a point also noted by the jury. It is at this time that he develops a variant of the incising technique that would later become highly characteristic of his individual style. Its essence lies in supplementing the outlines of the motifs with a graphic solution consisting of short, shading-like strokes, producing an almost three-dimensional effect; this technique, which he referred to as ‘hairing’, became a distinctive feature of his later style [7]. The interiors of the flower petals are often cross-hatched, and the incised lines are darkened with soot mixed into sheep’s tallow. On the floral motifs, the stems are invariably rendered as double lines, further thickened by the ‘hairing’ technique, while the leaves can still be regarded as merely rudimentary.
By the second half of the 1980s, his output had become exceptionally rich in every respect, bringing him increasing recognition. For the collection he submitted in 1987 to the Young Master of Folk Art competition, he was awarded the long-sought title. A new idea emerges in the functional conception of the group of objects: the well-known mirror cases, match holders, and watch chains of Somogy shepherd art served as sources of inspiration for a technically highly sophisticated and functionally interrelated set of objects. The box, the mirror cases, and the hair comb were made of reddish-brown plum wood and embellished with inlaid bone plaques bearing incised decoration. The jewellery and belt fitting were made of bone, ornamented through sawing and incising. His ornamental vocabulary was further expanded with new elements. A frontal, floating bird with outspread wings and tail, richly feathered, became a characteristic motif within his decorative repertoire. Another newly introduced motif was the palmette of distinctive form known from the sabretache plates of the Hungarian Conquest period. In the second half of the 1980s, an increasing number of woodcarvers began to draw on the ornamental repertoire known from the archaeological material of the Hungarian Conquest period, thereby enriching the decorative vocabularies that had previously followed the regional styles of shepherd art. In this development, one can discern the strengthening of a sense of national consciousness, already present as an undercurrent in certain manifestations of folk applied art from the 1970s onwards. Zoltán Gosztonyi’s artistic sensitivity and his attachment to Hungarian identity increasingly guided him in this direction.
The collection he submitted to the 1988 National Folk Art Competition, which was awarded a gold plaque, marked a decisive moment in his career. In 1989, the jury of the NIT granted a Category A classification to most pieces in the submitted group of objects, enabling him to obtain the qualification of Folk Applied Artist. The group of objects demonstrates that by this point, Zoltán Gosztonyi had developed the foundations of an individual style marked by distinctive formal features. Fruitwood (plum and walnut) plays an almost subordinate role, while the carvings, staffs, mirror cases, comb ornaments, and certain storage objects, are predominantly made of bone and antler. A more careful surface treatment can also be observed. The decorative repertoire continues to expand. In the case of plant motifs, it is striking that he still adheres to a single type of flower, making no use of the rich variety of floral forms characteristic of Somogy shepherd art. At the same time, a growing structural complexity can be observed in his floral motifs. Alongside the traditional flower sprouting from a heart or a vase, a thick-trunked flower tree, a tree of life, becomes a dominant motif, beside whose crown he places a sun and a moon motif, alluding to an archaic cosmological worldview. Another favoured compositional scheme is a row of flowers set upon a wavy line, which may remain open or may be formed by flowers borne on branches that curve back to form an almost circular arrangement. The border patterns display considerable variety, while their placement continues to follow traditional conventions. A further new motif is the distinctive stag, whose form was inspired by the Scythian gold stag discovered at Mezőkeresztes–Zöldhalompuszta [8]. These new elements demonstrate that, beyond their decorative function, his motifs increasingly acquire symbolic meaning.
2 A Sole Proprietor for Whom Carving Is a Vocation
At the time of the regime change, Zoltán Gosztonyi resolved to pursue carving as his sole occupation. He built his own workshop and thereafter sought to earn his living from his carving alone. However, at that time, the folk-art market was in a state of crisis: not only were co-operatives dismantled, including the Folk Artists’ Co-operative, which had previously provided employment for carvers, but the domestic and foreign trade companies dealing in folk art products were also dissolved. Only a few folk-art shops and tourist-oriented shops survived. In this situation, Zoltán Gosztonyi sought to identify those types of carvings for which there was still demand, and to find opportunities and channels through which he could establish contact with the market and potential commissioners.
From his existing range of works, it was the moderately priced yet aesthetically refined bone objects, such as pencil and business-card holders, jewellery, and needle and key holders, that proved marketable, as they were suitable both for use as corporate gifts and for sale in the tourist market. These were works of exceptionally high decorative and technical quality, and for this reason, they soon became sought after. Before long he came to be regarded as an established master, who would subsequently undertake larger commissions as well.
2.1 His Wood Carvings
During his decades as a sole proprietor, he received commissions for the creation of large-scale carved works. One group of these commissions consists of grave markers and memorial columns. Most of these belong to the kopjafa type [a traditional carved wooden grave marker characteristic of Hungarian folk culture] [9], whose ornamentation, composed of geometric elements, tulip motifs, and richly developed star forms, draws on Transylvanian ornamental traditions while also incorporating elements of local tradition.
Furthermore, he carves gate posts and roadside crosses. However, these works are constructed from wide, thick wooden planks, and their front surfaces are adorned with shallow relief carving and incised ornament. While he employs the compositional scheme of Székely gate decoration, the three-petalled tulip and the Scythian stag derive from his own ornamental repertoire. Both carvings take the form of stylised human figures. On the gatepost made in 1994 in Kisbajom, the circular head is idealised through a carved whirling rosette representing the face, while a similar incised rosette appears on the base. The roadside cross erected in Kaposvár in 2016 embodies a particularly striking conceptual approach: the figures in orans posture placed on either side of the cross express at once immeasurable love and sorrow. This is conveyed by their bowed heads turned towards the crossbeam, as if embracing it. The opposing stance of the two stags acquires additional symbolic meaning, as they gaze towards the cross as well. From their mouths and antlers issues a double row of floral motifs whose endless continuity expresses Christ’s omnipotence and love. Beneath the stags, a band of geometric motifs closes the composition, alluding to the water of life through their symbolic meaning.
Another group of his woodcarvings consists of furniture, among which a wine cabinet, a cradle, and a small chest deserve particular attention. The most striking decorative element of the wine cabinet is the luxuriant Tree of Life with baroque-inflected contours, whose compositional structure recalls the olaszkorsós floral motif [a traditional element of Hungarian folk ornamentation, showing a stylised jug or vase from which flowers and tendrils grow] of the Somogy mirror cases, symmetrically flanked by peacocks. He reshaped this motif in a distinctly ‘Gosztonyi-like’ manner through the modelling of undulating branches and backward-glancing birds with ornate tails. The end panel of the cradle is adorned with a stag rendered in shallow relief and combined with a Tree-of-Life motif. The sides of the framed cradle are constructed from inserts with sawn patterns, drawing on the tradition of the sawn-board ornamentation characteristic of Somogy houses. On the lid of the small chest, a luxuriant Tree of Life appears in a symmetrical arrangement, flanked by stags and peacocks.
2.2 Bone Carvings
Bone, above all hollow cattle bone, from which containers can be made, has been Zoltán Gosztonyi’s preferred material from the outset. In 1992, he was awarded a gold grade at the National Folk Art Exhibition (Országos Népművészeti Kiállítás, ONK) for his set of spice containers. It was through working with this material that he developed both his incising technique and the key elements of his ornamental vocabulary. Across his series of works, one can trace the qualitative refinement of execution and the enrichment of technical solutions, developments whose results are reflected in the awards he received in competitions and in his being granted the title of Master of Folk Art in 1999.
In the incised patterns, the formation of the Tree of Life increasingly becomes defined by line structure articulated through breaks and angular turns, the number of flowers decreases, and their place being taken by tendrils and nascent leaf forms. At the tips of the branches, a new element appears: a flower reminiscent of a pomegranate which, assuming an anthropomorphic form, comes to resemble a crowned, dancing fairy, thereby lending greater emphasis to the symbolic message of the ornament. The enrichment of the ornamental vocabulary is striking, resulting from the carver’s conscious intention to invest the decoration with clearly articulated meaning. He achieves this by transforming motifs into symbols and by expressing, through them, the conceptual content the ornament is meant to convey. Shaped into a unified conceptual whole, this symbolic content is what lends his works their distinctive character. He is deeply Christian, yet at the same time respectful of earlier worldviews. This outlook is reflected throughout his carvings, which are consistently adorned with elements of this worldview: the Tree of Life, the stag, bird forms, as well as churches, coat of arms, and sun and moon motifs.
2.3. Antler Carvings
His powder horns made from deer antler closely follow tradition, which is a consequence of the more limited malleability of the material and the restricted compositional possibilities of the horn form. Along the upper part of the main branch and at the lower ends of the tines, slightly set back from the wooden stoppers, a border band frames the incised decoration. The ornament is applied to the smoothed frontal surface and consists predominantly either of a luxuriant, conventionally formed Tree of Life, whose branches on the central field embrace the figurative motif that carries the symbolic message of the decoration, or of vertically oriented, floral wave patterns composed of spiralling, backward-curving lines that enclose the dominant motif placed at the centre. Most often, the principal motif is the Scythian stag, though symmetrically arranged birds may also appear among the branches. In some cases, a coat of arms is included, with solar and lunar motifs arranged symmetrically above.
Among his powder horns, the piece depicting the ballad Cantata Profana stands out for its exceptional artistic quality. On the central frontal field, he placed the figure of the father, whose occupation is indicated by the rifle slung over his shoulder and by the hunting pouch. He stands beneath a Székely gate, characterised by the coat of arms set into the gate panel, the cross-beams, and the wavy ornamentation of the gateposts. The sons transformed into stags are incised on the other frontal field and along the tines. Like bone, antler also serves as a material for a large number of his carvings.
2.4 Expert Handling of Cattle Horn
After 1990, horn as a material became increasingly important for Zoltán Gosztonyi, and some of his finest artistic works were made from cattle horn. In the early 1990s, he established his own workshop, at which time, he acquired or made the tools required for working horn. The preparation of the raw material is an extremely complex process, which he describes in detail in his book [10]. The knowledge of the processing of horn had traditionally been passed down among shepherd craftsmen, and Zoltán Gosztonyi acquired this expertise from older masters in Somogy. In addition, he learned the techniques of splitting horn into plates and processing flattened horn plates in a comb-maker’s workshop in Budapest.
From horn of suitable shape and quality, he produces decorative horns and drinking horns of various sizes. In other cases, he cuts the material into sections, forming five or six cylindrical vessels, which he closes with bases carved from fruitwood and fits with lids provided with elegantly shaped handles. Whereas earlier shepherds shaped the flatter forms of such cylindrical vessels using a shoemaker’s last, Gosztonyi employs an ingeniously constructed vice for this purpose. The horn vessels are decorated in a manner similar to the bone containers: their upper and lower edges are usually bordered by geometric bands, while the broad central field is adorned with a sequence of motifs composed of several units, always linked by a unifying ‘narrative’, such as the depiction of a Christmas folk custom. His decorative technique is incision, typically shaded through his characteristic ‘hairing’ method. However, following the practice of earlier shepherds, the background is yellowed, that is, treated with nitric acid, which colours the horn yellow. He refers to this process as “shepherds’ gilding” [11]. He also applies this technique to wood, where the nitric acid produces a brown colouration.
After 1990, he achieved a series of successes with his horn carvings, above all with his decorative horns and horn vessels. In his book, he presents most of these works illustrated with photographs. At the Kapoli Antal National Carving Competition, he received the Kapoli Grand Prize in 1992 and in 1998, while at the National Folk Art Competition and Exhibition, he was awarded gold plaques in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005, and 2010, and the Pomegranate Prize in 2000. In recognition of his rich and successful oeuvre, he was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art in 1999. Subsequently, his name became widely known, and professional awards and recognition brought him a steady stream of commissions.
During the 1990s, a growing thematic range can be observed in his horn carvings. The horn provides a unified surface that allows the carver to narrate multi-scene stories within a single composition. Through his distinctive visual approach, he transforms these scenes into images. Once an ‘image’ has been formulated, he treats it as a symbol and reuses it in later carvings with related meanings, thereby creating a characteristic visual language of his own. Among the many examples, particular attention should be drawn to his Kapoli Prize-winning horn depicting the ballad of Anna Molnár, which is especially well suited to illustrating Gosztonyi’s mode of symbolic representation.
In accordance with the Somogy shepherd-art tradition, he divides the incised and yellowed decorative surface horizontally into several bands. These bands are delineated by borders featuring cord-pattern motifs and Anjou-lilies. The three bands function as three temporal layers. In the upper, opening register, the introductory scene can be seen: the husband, holding an axe, sets off into the forest, which is symbolised by a large tree. His home is behind him, together with the ballad’s central female character. Anna Molnár is presented surrounded by the symbolic attributes of female existence: a vessel rack with jugs and a flask hangs on the wall, a bowl hangs below it, and further down, there is a hearth, beneath which a basket is placed. Beside the woman, there is a cradle, which indicates that she has a child. However, her attire is revealing: she wears a hat and holds a kerchief in her hand. Within the iconographic language of shepherd art, this costume signifies a betyár’s [a highwaymen of the 19th century Kingdom of Hungary] lover [12]. Next to her appears a flower-tree with bending stems, behind which stands a soldier in a distinctive posture, holding his large sword horizontally before his body. The carver renders the figures through a system of symbolic references, environmental signs, items of clothing, bodily posture, and attributes indicating occupation. This mode of representation is derived from the Transdanubian shepherd-carving tradition [13].
The second band highlights the moment when Anna Molnár notices the severed maidens’ heads among the branches. Her terror is conveyed by her hands raised to cover her mouth. The soldier’s gesture is also highly expressive, as he seeks to lure the woman with a flower, a symbol of love. The bird perched on the horse carries multiple meanings: it may be interpreted both as a little owl (Athene noctua) announcing death and as a wise owl recalling a fatal misstep.
In the third band, the family is reunited. From Anna Molnár’s attire, the manner of her escape can be inferred, as she is shown wearing the soldier’s clothing and holding the infant in her arms. As a sign of restored domestic harmony, there is a cup on the table, and there are three large sunflowers in a vase, conceived as three suns. The reconciled husband stands behind the table. Beside the woman’s head appears a coat of arms, likewise carrying multiple meanings: it refers both to the legitimacy of the killing of the soldier and to the lawful, reinstated status of the family, now placed once again at the centre.
The creation of Mézesbábos kürt (Horn Decorated With Gingerbread-Figure Motifs), which received the Kapoli Prize in 1998, further refined his image-forming technique. Several motifs drawn from gingerbread-figure decoration were subsequently adopted as representational schemes in his later carvings, including the mounted hussar, the young lady, the coat of arms, and the soldier.
Most of his horn carvings, above all the cylindrical vessels, drinking horns, and signal horns, are decorated with scenes drawn from narrative sources on their light-coloured surfaces. Breaking the intended story down into images and giving visual form to its individual episodes requires considerable preparatory work. The symbolic mode of representation demands that the craftsman should be thoroughly familiar with the symbols traditionally known and used within Hungarian culture, as well as with the possibilities of their application. The sources of the symbols he employs lie primarily in Hungarian, and more specifically Somogy, shepherd art. Nineteenth-century shepherd carvings, especially incised mirror cases, mirror cases decorated using the ‘spanyolozás’ technique [a decorative technique in which warm sealing wax is pressed into carved recesses, creating coloured inlays that enhance the contrast and visual depth of the ornament], and horn salt containers, were often decorated with a bouquet of flowers placed in an ‘olaszkorsó’ [a stylised jug or vase], where the flowers, owing to their thickened stems, frequently evoked the image of the Tree of Life, though the handle-like projections at the bases of the stems indicated their origin. In Gosztonyi Zoltán’s work, this motif clearly assumes the meaning of the Tree of Life and appears on almost all of his carvings. The bird, the peacock shown both frontally and in profile, and the stag with luxuriant floral branches issuing from its mouth are likewise motifs rooted in shepherd art, as is the coat of arms. Most of the human figures also derive from types common in shepherd carving: the betyár wearing a szűr [a traditional Hungarian shepherd’s cloak made of thick felted wool, typically decorated with embroidered or appliquéd motifs], the man holding a firearm, the shepherd with his herding staff, or the betyár’s lover holding a flower. These motifs, together with their constant attributes and their characteristic modes of depiction, provide the basis for Gosztonyi’s portrayal of the human figure.
Gosztonyi soon expanded the repertoire of motifs derived from shepherd art by incorporating elements drawn from archaeological material of the period of the Hungarian Conquest. He frequently employs floral forms known from sabretache plates and adopts the scrolling, tendril-like structures familiar from belt fittings. In other cases, he alters the posture of the stag, drawing on the mode of representation of the Scythian gold stag discovered at Mezőkeresztes–Zöldhalompuszta. For him, every motif carries meaning, and this symbolic content, one might even call it a visual language, is used in the pictorial reworking of narrative themes.
His narratives are partly connected to the Christian faith and to folk customs, partly to historical figures and legends, and in some cases to historical events or notable personalities of the recent past. The horn entitled Virágvasárnaptól a feltámadásig (From Palm Sunday to the Resurrection) presents episodes from the life of Jesus. The salt container shown in the photograph depicts a Christmas folk custom, the Nativity play. The drinking horn illustrating the life of King Saint Ladislaus, for which the artist drew primarily on medieval representations of Ladislaus found in Hungarian church murals, is particularly outstanding. On his horns and horn containers, he portrayed scenes from the traditional pig slaughter, and from the story of the famous Transdanubian betyár Bandi Patkó, and one of his most outstanding works, a ceremonial horn, commemorated the Siculicidium (Massacre at Madéfalva). He rendered episodes from Sándor Petőfi’s János vitéz (John the Valiant). The memory of Gáspár Noszlopy was preserved on a horn container, while the events of the life of the choreographer József Vida were translated into pictorial form on a commemorative horn.
Once a scene, a notable figure, an animal motif, a coat of arms, or a plant form indicating the setting has been devised, he reuses its form in later works, sometimes with minor variations. In this way, he has created for himself an exceptionally rich repertoire of motifs. Distinguished figures are characterised through their attire and various attributes, which are placed on or beside them. In the case of animal figures, such as the stag, the horse, the peacock and the turul bird [a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians], the same formal types, postures, and accessories recur. Each individual motif carries its own specific meaning.
Another major group of his horn carvings consists of works made from flattened horn plates. Following the model of sabretache plates, the larger plates are used to decorate the covers of leather pouches or to serve as belt fitting ornaments. Some pieces, such as objects recalling the shape of former military powder flasks, are given a renewed ‘container form’. These are decorated with incised and yellowed motifs. As in the case of comparable bone carvings, the forms of jewellery and toiletries are shaped by sawing and embellished with openwork patterns. The openwork jewellery and toiletries constitute a particularly refined and distinctive group within his oeuvre.
3 A Leading Figure of Contemporary Hungarian Folk Art
In the beginning, he was a regular participant in the folk-art competitions and events organised in Somogy County and at national level. As his professional standing grew, he assumed organisational roles in these events, for example in the Mesterségek Ünnepe (Festival of Folk Arts). He was invited to serve on the jury of the Council of Folk Applied Arts (NIT) and later acted as chair of the jury of the Kapoli Antal National Carving Competition.
He has been a member of the Somogy County Folk Art Association since its foundation. Since 2010, as president of the association, he has worked actively for the promotion and preservation of Somogy folk art. In addition to organising events, he has played an active role in ensuring that the folk-art values of the region are included in local, county, and national Repositories of Values. In 2020, on his initiative, The Living Tradition of Somogy Shepherd Carving was added to the county Repository of Values. In 2017, The Work of Zoltán Gosztonyi was included in the Kaposvár Repository of Values, and in 2018, it was added to the county repository.
He has been a member of the public body of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2015 and was elected a member of the Academy in 2024.
Alongside his professional work, he also regards the promotion of the art of carving as an important mission. His book Szarvasösvényen. Faragva, karcolozva fából, csontból, szaruból (lit. On the Deer Path. Carving and Scratching in Wood, Bone, and Horn) (Kaposvár, 2017) is of particular significance and may be used as a handbook by contemporary carvers (Fig. 21). It introduces numerous technical innovations, especially with regard to the working and decorative treatment of horn.
Zoltán Gosztonyi’s oeuvre is closely connected to the processes that have characterised folk art over recent decades. He is an active participant in the new phase of contemporary Hungarian folk art, which he helps to shape through bold, innovative initiatives, enriching it with new technical solutions and decorative elements.
5 August 2024
Dr. Ilona S Kovács
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1 “I was given the little pocket knife when I was very young. It had probably belonged to my mother, it was a delicate, mother-of-pearl-inlaid, two-bladed knife. It did not last long, as I once drove it so hard into a piece of wood that the blade snapped. I was very sorry about it, but I still count this among my earliest formative experiences.” (Zoltán Gosztonyi)
2 “The small, double-pointed ‘blincke’, a short stick, was placed across a narrow, inch-wide groove dug into the ground. Using the striking stick, it was flicked as far as possible. If one of the other players caught it in mid-air, he changed places with the striker. If the ‘blincke’ fell to the ground, there were still three further chances to continue striking. By tapping one of its pointed ends, the ‘blincke’ would spring up, allowing it to be hit and sent further with the striking stick. After the three attempts, the distance achieved was measured out and noted. The game continued until the opposing player managed to catch the ‘blincke’, at which point the players changed roles.” (Zoltán Gosztonyi)
3 Árpád Együd (Perőcsény, 30 January 1921 – Kaposvár, 17 August 1983), folklorist and teacher. “He studied at the College of Physical Education (now: Hungarian University of Sports Science) between 1941 and 1946, and subsequently, until 1949, at the Balaton Folk High School. He began his professional career in 1946 as a physical education teacher in Csurgó, where in the 1950s, he became involved in the voluntary ethnographic collecting movement. Between 1960 and 1963, he served as head of the Civic Cultivation Advisory Office in Kaposvár. From 1963 to 1970, he taught physical education at the Perczel Mór Secondary Grammar School in Siófok. From 1970 onwards, he worked as a museologist in Somogy County. Between 1971 and 1982, he carried out extensive and highly successful fieldwork, collecting the folk songs, ballads, customs, and dances of Somogy County, thereby enriching folklore studies rooted in living tradition. He was the founder (1963) and artistic director of the Balaton Dance Group, and created numerous choreographies for folk dance groups. His fieldwork resulted in films, audio recordings, ballad texts, and written notes. His work was mainly published in specialist journals.” (arcanum.com/hu)
4 István Szőke (Tapolca, 1921 – Kaposvár, 2019), woodcarver, Master of Folk Art (2001). “His woodcarving was influenced by the work of Antal Kapoli Sr. He was a contributing member of the Folk Artists’ Co-operative. From 1962 onwards, he led workshops for both adult and student woodcarvers. From 1967, he worked full-time within the Folk Artists’ Cottage Industry Co-operative, pursuing his tradition-based, high-quality creative activity, in recognition of which he was awarded the title Folk Applied Artist in 1968. As a regular participant and instructor at woodcarving camps, he worked in Tab, Szőcsénypuszta, and, as camp leader, in Babócsa, Somogyvár, Somogyvámos, and Szenna.” (https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szöke_Istvan)
5 László Varga (Dombóvár, 1921 – Kaposvár, 2007), woodcarver, Master of Folk Art. After becoming acquainted with Somogy shepherd carving, he gave up his clerical post at an early stage and devoted himself entirely to carving. He lived in Kaposvár. “He produced a wide range of objects: flasks, csanaks [a traditional Hungarian wooden drinking vessel, typically carved from a single piece of wood], kobaks [a dried gourd vessel, traditionally used in Hungarian folk culture as a container or drinking vessel], horns, staffs, smoking sets, chess sets, spice containers, beverage servers, etc. He was interested in every new form and technique. He developed outstanding mastery in the production of miniature jewellery made from bone, executed in relief or openwork carving, or decorated using the ‘spanyolozás’ technique. He regularly took part in the training of young carvers and led several courses. In 1954, he was awarded the title Folk Applied Artist, and in 1960, he received the title Master of Folk Art. He was a founding member of the Folk Artists’ Cottage Industry Co-operative and served as a member of the Folk Applied Arts Council from 1964 to 1982.” (György Domanovszky and Marianna Varga, Mai magyar népi iparművészet (lit. Contemporary Hungarian Folk Applied Art), Budapest, 1983)
6 “In the second half of the 1970s, alongside the táncház movement, the Young Folk Artists’ Studio was established, bringing together the young, talented craft practitioners of the period, many of them from urban backgrounds. In terms of their artistic approach, these young artists broadly fell into two groups. Representatives of the first group sought to integrate the motif repertoire of folk art into so-called ‘Grand Art’ [the autonomous, canonised, institutionally established, and theoretically reflected form of art, as opposed to applied, functional, folk, or craft-based art], and were for the most part applied artists. By contrast, members of the second group believed that it was still possible to create within the framework of traditional folk art. Contrary to the prevailing views of ethnography, some of them continued to regard folk art as a living tradition even in the 1970s and 1980s, attaching particular importance to the use of symbols.” 22 (Bence Áment-Kovács, Háziipari és népi iparművészeti szövetkezetek a második világháború utáni Magyarországon (lit. Cottage Industry and Folk Applied Art Co-operatives in Post-War Hungary), Honismeret, 2019. pp. 17–23
7 Ilona S Kovács, Hodó József faragópásztor munkái (lit. The Works of József Hodó, Shepherd Carver), Kaposvár, 1981
8 Tibor Kemencei, A zöldhalom-pusztai aranyszarvas (lit. The Golden Stag of Zöldhalompuszta), Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve (lit. Yearbook of the Herman Ottó Museum), Miskolc, 1999, pp. 167–180
9 Ernő Kunt, Temetők népművészete (lit. Folk Art in Cemeteries), Budapest, 1983, p. 44
10 Zoltán Gosztonyi, Szarvasösvényen. Faragva, karcolozva fából, csontból, szaruból (lit. On the Deer Path. Carving and Scratching in Wood, Bone, and Horn), Kaposvár, 2017, pp. 12–16
11 See note 10, p. 22
12 Ilona S Kovács, Szerelmespár-ábrázolások a dunántúli pásztorművészetben. A páva. (lit. Depictions of Lovers in Transdanubian Shepherd Art. The Peacock.), in: Erosz a folklorban (lit. Eros in Folk Art), ed.: Mihály Hoppál and Erika Szepes, Budapest, 1987
13 Ilona S Kovács, Pásztorművészet (lit. Shepherd Art), in: Somogy megye népművészete (lit. Folk Art of Somogy County), pp. 329–372, ed.: Orsolya Kapitány and Judit Imrő, Kaposvár, 2001