Author: Budapest Guide

György Kovásznai, a retrospective show
National Gallery
June 4 – September 26

Museums of Budapest

Press release:
Kovásznai’s resolute personality laden with a strong calling for the arts was soon to manifest when, at the age of fourteen he announced his family his intention to become a painter at all costs. “The curse-mannerism is something deeply foreign to art.” In retrospect, he thought much positively about the free school run by Piroska Szántó and Jenő Béres, considering their work as a true art pedagogical achievement. “Later on, throughout many years, I was in vain looking for the same charm in my other masters, the Hungarian art practice was characterised by some crossness, mordancy, savage self-destruction, grieving smothered in pipe-smoke.” Between 1950 and 1952, he spent two inspiring years eagerly preparing for the artistic path at the Art High School. The talented classmates are by now acknowledged Hungarian artists: Ilona Keserü, János Major, József Bartl.

In 1954, his constant confrontations lead him to go away and work in mines (more information about this in room No.2.) In May of 1955, he approached Aurél Bernáth to help him enter the third year of studies. “My practice, memories, and my unchanging determination call for this specific genre of expression.” At the end of his fourth year, shortly before graduation, in the summer of 1957, he was thrown out of school due to unsatisfactory marks.

The Hungarian National Gallery, located in the Castle of Buda, opened a new temporary exhibition June 4th named: “Depero the Futurist and the Impact of Futurism on Avant-Garde Art.” If this sounds interesting, you better head of to the National Gallery where the exhibition is available between June 4th and August 22nd. More information about the exhibition can be found in the press release further down.

Depero the Futurist and the Impact of Futurism on Avant-Garde Art
National Gallery
June 4th – August 22

Museums in Budapest

Press release:
A joint exhibition of the Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto and the Hungarian National Gallery with the sponsorship and cooperation of the Italian Embassy in Hungary and the Italian Cultural Institute in Budapest, under the Patronage of the Presidents of the Italian Republic and the Republic of Hungary, His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano and His Excellency László Sólyom under the auspices of the Honorable Sandro Bondi, Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Italian Republic.

The year 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of Futurism, with a number of Futurist exhibitions held in various countries. Over the past twenty years there has been growing interest in the art of versatile Futurist painter Fortunato Depero (1892-1960), an ardent follower of Marinetti’s aesthetics. The over 100 works displayed at the Budapest show are on loan from the Museo Fortunato Depero, Rovereto, an integral part of MART, where the collection of works left by the artist to the town is housed. Living in Austrian-controlled Rovereto until 1918, Depero was in fact raised in a Central European milieu. His artistic development was influenced by Symbolism and Expressionism, and also by the schools of Jugendstil and Wiener Werkstätte. During his trip to Rome he established contact with important Futurist painters such as Boccioni, Balla, Prampolini and Marinetti. His Futurist principles were summarized in the manifesto Ricostruzione futurista dell’universo (Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe), co-authored with Giacomo Balla in 1915, proclaiming the re-creation of the universe and the extension of art to all areas of life. Through his Futurist formal experiments he envisaged mobile sculptured constructions utilising the combined impact of movement and sound effects.

In Rome, after making the acquaintance of Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, Depero designed costumes and stage sets for Igor Stravinsky’s Le Chant du Rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale) and for Balli Plastici (Plastic Dances), a picto-plastic drama co-authored with Gilbert Clavel. Between 1916 and 1919, he left off his abstract art experimentations and went on to work towards a new iconography arising from the world of magic and fantasy. Populating his metaphysical and surreal visions with unique shapes brought to life in his pictures, Depero created a kind of meta-reality.

In the autumn of 1919 he opened his studio-workshop called Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero in Rovereto, where, based on his designs, particularly impressive, decorative tapestries, textiles, furniture, toys and graphic design works were produced. In 1929 he founded another Futurist House in New York where he continued his career as a designer. He undertook significant design commissions for the Italian company Campary, the magazines Vanity Fair and Vogue, and Roxy Theater (advertisement and stage sets). He returned to Italy in October 1930. The paintings he did in that period were inpsired by his American experience, featuring urban motifs, skyscrapers, subways, and mechanical parts as visual elements. After the war he lived in the United States for a while again, but received no more commissions. In 1959 he designed and built the first museum of Italian Futurism, the Museo Fortunato Depero which, completely refurbished as one of MART’s venues, was reopened to celebrate the centenary of Futurism. Depero died in 1960. He left all his works to the town of Rovereto.