Abstract

With the publication of this stunningly illustrated account of the Hungarian avant-garde movement, an important missing link in early modern art can now be fully recognized. To such well-known names in the west as Lazslo Moholy-Nagy and Andor Weininger can now be added the contributions of Lajos Kassak, Sandor Bortnyik, Bela Uitz, and a host of other painters whose significance has long been obscured. The nearly 200 illustrations, many in full color, together with essays by leading American and Hungarian scholars and a comprehensive bibliography and comparative chronology, make this a definitive sourcebook that opens a new chapter in twentieth-century art. During the early twentieth century, central and eastern Europe provided fertile ground for major artistic developments. Hungarian painters, in particular, responded imaginatively and vigorously to the political and social changes leading up to and following World War I by "standing in the tempest" of political activism and attempting to redefine the role of art in society. Only in the past few years has it been possible once again to examine original works of art and to assess properly these painters' vital contribution. The Essays: The Avant-Garde: Marching in the Van of Progress, Richard V. West.Introduction, S. A. Mansbach.Hungary: A Brief Political and Cultural History, Istvan DeakRevolutionary Engagements: The Hungarian Avant-Garde, S. A. Mansbach.Color, Light, Form, and Structure: New Experiments in Hungarian Painting, 1890-1930, Julia Szabo,Hungarian Activism and the Russian Avant-Garde, John E. Bowlt.The Avant Garde in Hungary and Eastern Europe, Krisztina Passuth.Chronology, and bibliography, Oliver A. I. Botar.