The Great Plain. Stories from 200 years of Hungarian fine arts
2014. May. 11. - 2014. Sep. 21.
New interpretations always stimulate intellectual excitement, whether the solution is inspiring or controversial. This is especially true of a neglected trend such as Great Plain painting, which has not been reevaluated in recent decades, allowing the stereotypes associated with it to become firmly entrenched in public thinking. The basis for this assessment comes mainly from Lajos Németh’s 1968 book Modern Hungarian Art, and it cannot be said that the theses laid out in this book have changed significantly in the intervening period. It is true that the MODEM exhibition Alföld – Stories from Two Hundred Years of Hungarian Fine Arts does not focus specifically on the movement known as the Alföld School, which began in the early 20th century, but rather compiles representations of a geographically defined area from a historical perspective. However, when the aforementioned time limit is reached, a professional comment inevitably emerges. According to this, Ildikó Eleőd, the curator of the exhibition, made a hopeful attempt at reinterpretation, an essential element of which was that she broke away from the canonized line of farm and genre depictions, and another is that she has opened up to “different” images, that is, to related arts, namely photography and film, thus creating some context. (This endeavor was intensified and broadened by László Darvasi’s opening text, which took literary projections into account.) All these parallels emphasize that this landscape character and the regularities of the site-specific way of life have a much stronger (national) character than the genre of hills and mountains, which are more similar to continental landscapes, not to mention the generality of “big city lights (and shadows)”.
Műértő, July–August 2014.
Curator: Eleőd Ildikó
Artists: Almási Gyula Béla, Barabás Miklós, Barcsay Jenő, Bihari Sándor, Bikessy-Heinbucher József, Boromisza Tibor, Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar, Deák-Ébner Lajos, Endre Béla, Erdős Péter, Fejér Csaba, Fényes Adolf, Fülöp Erzsébet, Haranghy György, Hézső Ferenc, Holló László, Georg Höllering, Izsó Miklós, Jancsó Miklós, K. Spányi Béla, Káplár Miklós, Kohán György, Kósa Ferenc, Koszta József, Kovács Mári, Kurucz D. István, Ligeti Antal, Lotz Károly, Maghy Zoltán, Markó Károly, Mednyánszky László, Munkácsy Mihály, Nagy István, Németh József, Orlai Petrich Soma, August von Pettenkofen, Rudnay Gyula, Sterio Károly, Szalay Ferenc, Szilágyi Lenke, Szomjas György, Szurcsik János, Than Mór, Tornyai János, Tóth Menyhért, Zahoray János