Photo: vam.ac.uk

V&A’s DIVA exhibition travels to Budapest to open next month

DIVA, a large-scale exhibition from London's Victoria&Albert Museum showcasing costumes and the life of iconic performers will be on display in in the House of Music Hungary in Budapest on its first journey abroad from May 18, the organisers said on Tuesday.

The exhibition, viewed so far in London by 300,000 visitors, will present dresses worn on stage by Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Cher, Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Ingrid Bergman, Billie Eilish, Rihanna and Bjork, the statement said. The Budapest exhibition will also present the costumes and life stories of Hungarian performers such as opera diva Eva Marton, actresses Lujza Blaha and Katalin Karady, and singers Zsuza Koncz, Zsuzsa Cserhati, Zseda, Bori Peterfy and Deva,it added.

“When working out the narrative, we sought to showcase personalities fit to present the[V&A] exhibition’s original messages. The Budapest exhibition entitled Divas&Icons will reflect the diversity of the music scene,” the statement quoted Andras Batta, the House of Music’s managing director, as saying.

The Budapest exhibition will feature hundreds of items coming from international collections, and the House of Music’s own collection covering the fields of design, costumes, photography, fashion, film and music, said Marton Horn, operative director of the institution.

It will put on display on 800sms several costumes for the first time, including the dress worn on stage by Maria Callas as Norma in 1952, Marilyn Monroe’s black dress from Some Like It Hot (1959) and iconic pieces designed by the legendary Bob Mackie.

Hungary’s Eva Marton has offered for the exhibition the costume she wore on stage in Verdi’s Don Carlos.

The Budapest show will run until September 15.

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