DOI article:
Szabó, Júlia: Avant-garde visitors in Central Europe, 1913-1931
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51724#0191
buttons, papers etc. The present whereabouts of these
works is unknown.lt seems that the same fate befell
the “abstract expressions” of a certain K. Kishonti,
which were also mentioned by Mâcza.
Mâcza also described the réception of the exhi-
bition. On the first days the visitors laughed at the
exhibited works, but they returned several times!
Calm entertainment disappeared from the exhibition.
Mâcza concluded that revolutionary works of art
cause a révolution in the soul. It is even more inte-
resting if we consider that he had also declared the
décliné of expressionism some years earlier on the
pages of À£L3liIn the article in Napkelet Mâcza de-
scribed Expressionism and Dadaism as the most im-
portant modem trends. Lajos Kassák and his circle
absorbed Dada and Constructivism in 1921 but tried
to introduce a new type of Constructivism that he
called7?z7<7arc7zz7efezzr(Képarchitektura, Architecture
in pictures). The manifesto of Bildarchitektur (pub-
lished both in Hungarian and German) is a poetic
confession of the possibility of grasping the essence
of the world in a systém constructed by man.39 In
1921 Kállai called the black and white lino cuts, geo-
metrically shaped watercolours and collages “the
landmarks of a future Community”.40 Bildarchitek-
tur is at first built on the surface as a plane but
“reached out to space”. Straight lines, rectangles,
circles and triangles; black and white, red yellow
and blue are the components of Bildarchitektur and
it wants to be the room itself, the environment of
human civilisation. Kassák took a watercolour jSz/J-
architektur to Košice when he visited Mâcza in
1922, and presented it to him. This present was
a sign of a new start. Maybe it had a similar sig-
nificance to El Lissitzky’s visits to Vienna and
Prague.41
Visiting and presenting works to one another -
this was a typical way of life in the smaller and big-
ger towns of Central Europe. Kassák or his compa-
nions travelled in Czechoslovakia, Germany and
Romania; in addition, they sent their publications to
many countries. They had to stop the édition of the
Viennese MA afiter its distribution had been forbid-
den in Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Kassák was still quoted on the first page of Tank in
Ljubljana in 1926.42 Its motto was taken from Buch
Neuer Künstler, an anthology of reproductions se-
8. Kasimir Malevich: Suprematist composition. Published in
Egység (ed. Uitz), No.3,1922
lected by László Moholy Nagy and introduced by
Lajos Kassák.43 It was published in Vienna in 1922
in a Hungarian and a German version. This book,
with its short text and its many reproductions, was
ALKOTNI - NEM ALAKITANI!
AKTIVISTA FOLVÓIRAT
9. Title page of MA (1924/3-4) with the typography of Farkas
Molnár. Inscription: Create, not imitate. (Museum of Kassák,
Budapest)
181
works is unknown.lt seems that the same fate befell
the “abstract expressions” of a certain K. Kishonti,
which were also mentioned by Mâcza.
Mâcza also described the réception of the exhi-
bition. On the first days the visitors laughed at the
exhibited works, but they returned several times!
Calm entertainment disappeared from the exhibition.
Mâcza concluded that revolutionary works of art
cause a révolution in the soul. It is even more inte-
resting if we consider that he had also declared the
décliné of expressionism some years earlier on the
pages of À£L3liIn the article in Napkelet Mâcza de-
scribed Expressionism and Dadaism as the most im-
portant modem trends. Lajos Kassák and his circle
absorbed Dada and Constructivism in 1921 but tried
to introduce a new type of Constructivism that he
called7?z7<7arc7zz7efezzr(Képarchitektura, Architecture
in pictures). The manifesto of Bildarchitektur (pub-
lished both in Hungarian and German) is a poetic
confession of the possibility of grasping the essence
of the world in a systém constructed by man.39 In
1921 Kállai called the black and white lino cuts, geo-
metrically shaped watercolours and collages “the
landmarks of a future Community”.40 Bildarchitek-
tur is at first built on the surface as a plane but
“reached out to space”. Straight lines, rectangles,
circles and triangles; black and white, red yellow
and blue are the components of Bildarchitektur and
it wants to be the room itself, the environment of
human civilisation. Kassák took a watercolour jSz/J-
architektur to Košice when he visited Mâcza in
1922, and presented it to him. This present was
a sign of a new start. Maybe it had a similar sig-
nificance to El Lissitzky’s visits to Vienna and
Prague.41
Visiting and presenting works to one another -
this was a typical way of life in the smaller and big-
ger towns of Central Europe. Kassák or his compa-
nions travelled in Czechoslovakia, Germany and
Romania; in addition, they sent their publications to
many countries. They had to stop the édition of the
Viennese MA afiter its distribution had been forbid-
den in Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Kassák was still quoted on the first page of Tank in
Ljubljana in 1926.42 Its motto was taken from Buch
Neuer Künstler, an anthology of reproductions se-
8. Kasimir Malevich: Suprematist composition. Published in
Egység (ed. Uitz), No.3,1922
lected by László Moholy Nagy and introduced by
Lajos Kassák.43 It was published in Vienna in 1922
in a Hungarian and a German version. This book,
with its short text and its many reproductions, was
ALKOTNI - NEM ALAKITANI!
AKTIVISTA FOLVÓIRAT
9. Title page of MA (1924/3-4) with the typography of Farkas
Molnár. Inscription: Create, not imitate. (Museum of Kassák,
Budapest)
181