An interview with Győző Sárkány, chairman of the Society of Hungarian Illustrators

Hungary is going to be the honorary guest of the Book Fair in Bologna, Italy in 2006; yours is the task of planning the concept of presentation and of organizing the activity connected with it. Which were your ideas, for instance, with the selection of illustrations?
One essential idea with the selection was to disregard the taste and other motives of publishers. Our scale of values is a professional and not an editorial one. We have equally aimed at representing several generations; in each case we endeavoured to bring the individuality and the professional skill of the selected artist into relief. The middle generation constitutes the bulk of the exhibitors, the ones capable of broadening out the boundaries of illustration as a branch of art (their works form the solid basis of Hungarian illustration), but you find there the great masters with their international prizes and recognition as well as the youngest artists, who contribute their fresh vision and new ideas to the selection.
What is our role of honorary guest due to? On what basis was Hungary invited as such?
It was first in 1995 that the Society of Hungarian Illustrators exhibited in the Bologna Fair, and within a year we organized a common Hungarian-Italian exhibition in Budapest, in the Vigadó Gallery. Over the past ten years we have been regular visitors of the Bologna Fair, and we have devoted assiduous efforts to building our contacts with many organisations of illustrators over the world, accepted a lot of international invitations, and done our best to make the works of our artists known as widely as possible. I ascribe to this pertinacious activity and to the variety of the illustrations we have exhibited that Hungary has won the title.
Illustrations are looked upon differently by different people. What is your conception concerning this branch of art?
Some maintain that illustration is necessarily attached to some text. On the contrary, I believe that an illustration can become independent from the text, it can work even detached from it. Another wrong idea is that an illustration must be subservient to the text. The picture has the same rank as the text, neither is subordinate to the other.
What is a good illustration like?
To judge an illustration you must use definite criteria. The same way as you judge a text, you have palpable viewpoints to evaluate a picture. The scale of values and professional skill are exact criteria in the case of a picture. A good illustrator has first of all a high professional education. His or her individuality is reflected in the work, his/her suggestiveness impresses the onlooker, whether a laic or a trained one.
What do you expect from our being honorary guests?
I believe that our presence in Bologna will be a milestone both for the individual exhibitors and for the whole body of our artists. It may be a major source of inspiration for the illustrators which they can use for their development. After the event I guess we shall sum up the experience and decide how we shall build our strategies in the future.
As for me I am enthusiastic about my work of organizer. During the preparation I could partake in the activity of the artists to collect the material of the exhibition. It was fine to see the zeal of the exhibitors and to chat with them about art and personal things. I am perfectly optimistic about our role of honorary guest in Bologna. Of course I feel excitement, too, and expectation; each exhibition is the birth of something new for me, there is nothing of the routine in it. I try to keep everything in my hand, I'll do that can be done.
What are the scenes and the dates of the programs and exhibitions?
Hungarian presentations happen mainly in two scenes. One is the 350 square metres exhibition hall for the honorary guest, where the original works of 30 illustrators are shown on a special installation unit, together with one maquette of a picture book by each of them. In the same hall the professional audience will be shown the animation films of the 30 artists. A special poster and a fine catalogue of the selected artists is also in preparation.
The other scene will be the national stand of Hungary, where 200 books for young people, selected by a jury, will be exhibited with large size prints of illustrations, picture cards and catalogues of artists. The very same stand will exhibit folders with works by 30 young illustrators, 10 drawings by each.
In the "Café of Illustrators", among the exhibits of the 30 selected illustrators, panels will be held for artists with international distinctions, Krisztina Rényi, József Szurcsik and Zsolt Marton.