Cat. 79

40-year jubilee

1927
Collage, pencil and ink on paper
330 x 495 mm
Signed and dated lower right corner:
Kassák Lajos 1927
Museum of Literature –
Kassák Museum, Budapest;
Inv. No. KM-M_79.3.1.

 

Biography:

 

Lajos Kassák was at his time one of the most influential and important figures in the European avant-garde. Kassák had a wide range in which he expressed his opinions and artistic devotion. Among these are; poetry, novels, essays, picture architecture, collages, paintings as well as his dedication to the magazines A Tett (Action) 1915-1916. A Tett was banned in 1916 and lead Kassák to create his new magazine MA (Today) in 1916. This magazine had its period from 1916 to 1920. In 1920 MA was transformed into a magazine of international avant-garde, but before this MA was a magazine that had a very strong artistic expression which was strongly influenced by Dada.

Lajos Kassák was born in 1887 Érsekújvár (now Nové Zámky, Slovakia), and died in 1967.

 

In 1926 Kassák returned to Hungary after many years in Vienna, he came back to edit Dokumentum (1926-1927) and Munka (Work, 1928-1939).

This is when the 40-year jubilee comes in. The collage that is our focus point was created to celebrate Lajos Kassák’s own 40th birthday. It sums up parts of Kassák’s past, within this is Ma, Dokumentum and it has the certificate of poverty from Budapest.

 

The collage shows Kassák’s strongly influenced of architect picture, with a minimalistic assembly of important supporting elements, to give the readers strong guideline to where the important information is. This is a style which Kassák was well know for after the creation of MA, where he got the strong inspiration to create his first picture architect assemblies and this followed him throughout his lifetime. As well as this was the first time he created anything that was not the written word, this was because at this time he moved to Vienna. Something changed him during this time and with this he became an important influential figure who inspired the people around him, his strong opinions about the wars and the government alike.

 

This collage was designed for his birthday to show his accomplishments and it is a display of his life. It was a collection of his works, both in the poems, magazines, arts and collages. Kassák Lajos was celebrated for the important work and to show how he has gone strong against the government, over and over again, even though they shut his magazines down. They were only in production over a few years before the government interfered and banned them.

 

The first thing you can see and notice about this piece is that the majority of the construction and the assemblies are made from newspaper and magazine cut outs. They are glued to a paper with some handwritten notes on. The notes are placed under the portrait in the center of the poster. There are several different types of paper that have been used as decorative details and as structural pieces as well as a variety in the colour contrast, to give a stricter and cleaner graphical image to the design of the poster. Furthermore, there is a sketch and a black and white portrait of Lajos Kassák. The portrait is cantered diagonally, horizontally and vertically. Every piece is placed in a harmony around the central portrait, there is a sketch on the left side that is in the same dimension as the portrait with a name attached to it (Simon Jolan) this is his wife. This sketch is placed on one of the strict diagonal lines that are begun by the illustration of an airplane on the left side, which is emphasized by the diagonal typography on the right side (konyvebol) from his book.

 

Now if we look at the use of the lines, we can easily determine that he uses a variation of diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines. He moves the viewer swiftly from the left to the right side with one glance at this poster. The reason why your eyes travel so easily over this piece is because he uses the diagonal lines to guide your gaze through the poster to the important in this case this is the Dokumentum (document) (it is the center line in the illustration underneath), where he uses diagonal lines to guide you to the next important information, and that is 40 Év (40 year) and the portrait, here he uses a lower diagonal line under the portrait that follows a second supporting diagonal line, he uses the tilted typography to enhance the diagonal lines, and in this case he uses this under the focus point of the portrait to give you a stronger central focus on the portrait itself. Here he uses a horizontal typographical line to break through the next focus point, which is the jubélium (jubilee) in the same font and style as (ÈV). Then he uses yet again a diagonal line, here above the next information, which is MA (today). So what can you gather from the highlighted point in this poster? So far, we know that this is a documented 40-year jubilee of his own life. Where this event covers also aspects of his journal (MA) as well as his other journals and magazines as well as his poems. There is also an illustration of some geometrical construction as a middle piece between the diagonal line and the horizontal (MA) piece. The reason for this is because Kassák was very attached to the style of architectural assemblages and collages. His is a style that follows him through out this life. This was also the first style he began to design and experiment with when he first began to create art, before (MA) he was only a writer, but something changed when he was in Vienna and created the first artworks for (MA).

 

The other lines he uses, here the strong use of vertical and horizontal lines are used to support the flow of our natural direction of our typographical aspect in the western world. This is further also applied to any art or work that confide to a flat surface. The reason for this strict and strong guidance is that we naturally look at any piece of work on a flat surface, the reason why we look at it this way is, because we in the western world are taught to read in this direction that goes from left to right. But in this case this is emphasized to get the message through works clearer to the viewer. He uses decorative lines that come as vertical and horizontal lines. They work in the same way as the supporting pillars of a house or a building. He has a strong graphical grid for this kind of work (collage); it is structured and balanced; yet he goes by the artistic rules where he places (Jubelium) off center to give a more harmonic balance.

This collage was designed for his birthday to show his accomplishments and it is a display of his life. It was a collection of his works, both in the poems, magazines, arts and collages. Kassák Lajos was celebrated for the important work

Simultaneously, there are two the lines that cross paths with left diagonals. On the right side, it follows a V shaped linear structure, that leads you to yet again Lajos Kassák and his wife, and to the written piece by Kassák himself, and the names that are listed under the illustration.

 

He uses hue the earth colour range, as well as the black, white and red contrast. This poster is busy, but yet it is well balanced and structured. From the right, he also follows the diagonal line-up with his placement of the rectangle that follows the left diagonal, to the centrepiece with the black and white photo, which is followed, by the sketch of the woman further in the lower left side corner there is a piece that mentions the artist, this is a poem created by József Nádass and is was written to Lajos Kassák. Under the sketch of the woman is a list of names, which are the people from Kassák’s circle and they had contributions to this event.

 

 

Throughout this poster Kassák has a very strong repetitive pattern, were he repeats his use of lines. The surfaces he uses on his elements are all matter, with the exception of the center focal point, which is a glossy black and white photo.

 

The source of light is replaced with the colour of the paper. He has a strong contrast between the use of light and dark paper, as well as he has blacked out several places to structure the design and the composition. There is a well-used combination of different geometrical shapes and sizes. In some cases the square or rectangle shapes are only decorative support elements for his bigger stronger elements that ether follows the diagonal, vertical or horizontal lines. The extra shapes and details are the supporting elements for his design, and these small touches bring the composition together and give the piece balance. Without these it could easily become a messy chaotic message, by the fact that this is a collage and not a painting or a photo. So the symmetry is important to get a clear message out to the viewer, and further get through that message about what this is all about and where the important information is placed is crucial is a piece like this.

 

As shown in this example there is a strong linear contrast between were your focus is driven, there is the important information and there are some decorative elements. There is also a big contrast in the usage of colour to supplement the design and the focus and flow of your eyes. Every piece is placed around the centrepiece. As well as his last touch on this poster follows the diagonal line next to (MA), is his signature and the date 1927.

 

 

This collage in particular is a very good reflection of Kassák and what he has done. It is an elegant poster with a fluid balance through out the piece.

 

This poster is a good representation of his life and his written work, especially the history of his magazines, from Dokumentum to MA. Further it is also a good representation of his rather minimalistic architectural style. Kassák designed with the style and the terms we use today as (Less is more).

 

Kassák Lajos is an important figure in the Hungarian history as well as in the international avant-garde history he was an inspiration for his strong opinions and his views about the wars, his harsh anti war opinions and critic of the government and he stepped up against the government.

 

 

Captions from the poster:
Documentum = Document (his journal between 1926 and 1927)
40 év Jubiléum = 40 years anniversary
A tisztaság könyvéből – From the Book of Purity (Book of Purity is a book by Kassák)
L’Art Moderne en Europe = Modern art in Europe
Az új vers = The new poem
Egy ember élete = The Life of a Man (Kassák’s autobiography)
Budapest főváros III. kerületének elöljárósága Szegénységi bizonyítvány = Certificate of poverty Issued by the Municipality of the 3rd district of Budapest

 

Bibliography:

Bajkay, Éva, at. MFT Magyar Kollazs – Hungarian collage, Art exhibition catalog and study, 2004, Györ, Hungary, Magyar Festök Társasága. Page nr 65.
http://issuu.com/kobart/docs/mft_magyarkollazs
Accessed: date November 29.

Daranyi, Georges. Lajos Kassak: Y la Vanguardia Hungara (English and Spanish Edition), Valencià, IVAM Institute of Valencià d’Art Modern, 1999
Hegyi, Dóra, ed. Art Always Has Its Consequences: Artists Texts from Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia. Sternberg Press, 2011.

 

Rudnay ,Zsófia. ”Welcome Note for the First Art Congress,” 1947. Kortárs 1, n. 5 (1947), Budapest. Petöfi Museum of Literature – Kassák Museum
Bajkay, Éva. ”Lajos Kassák (Hungarian, 1887–1967)”. 2009 Oxford University Press. Grove Art Online: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3010 Acscessed date September 20, 2014.

 

Kamien-Kazhdan, Dr. Adina. Dada and Surrealism Rearranged reality. EPC Nyomda, Budapest. 2014
(Exhibit catalogue, it is too much information it for me to find the right information on this one)

 

Translation of the artwork and extensile work:

Captions and MFT Magyar Kollazs page 65 by Orsi Danyi.