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The HVB Bank opened its touring exhibition ‘Europe in Art’ last week (Sept. 7) in Budapest.

Some of the strongest works in the exhibition are the photographs. One of my favorites is Ilse Haider’s Venus. When viewed from a distance the goddess’ face commands attention, while close up, the artist’s technique becomes apparent. Haider uses photo emulsion on wood and rattan reeds to create this striking three dimensional (170 by 116 by 36 cm) work .

Not to be missed are a couple of small black white images by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Hans Saebens, both from the 1950’s.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this exhibition is how it was curated. The bank’s 30,000 works of art were narrowed down to 130 from nine different collections. These were then made available for viewing on an Internet portal. The 60,000 staff members voted, and their top 100 are what you see when you visit Budapest, VI. Andrássy út 93.

The exhibition is on a European tour and can be viewed every day 10 am - 6 pm until October 4th.

P.S. The Oláh Szabolcs Quartet entertained the VIP guests at the Wednesday evening opening. This was the first time I’d heard this quartet without the sloppy mix of a bad sound engineer. Only Szabolcs’ guitar was amped, while the sax, bass, and drums were purely acoustic. The sound was good, and they were still playing - for just a small group of us - when we left at 10:00 pm.