Through September 14 of this year, the Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is presenting the exhibition “Magyar Grafika: Hungarian Posters, Advertising and Ephemera.” The colorful exhibit features seventy-five posters from the 1910’s through the 1980’s, a glimpse of 20th-century Hungarian life in a nutshell, covering movies, sports, travel, and commerce. Most of “Magyar Grafika” comes to the Museum as a loan from a single collector, Andre Farkas of Norwalk, Connecticut.
Poster art flourished in the early decades of the 20th century in Hungary as it did elsewhere in Europe. New media such as films and new industries needed advertising to reach the public – the rising middle class. Commercial establishments produced posters to encourage people to buy their products and patronize their businesses. Later, posters became a means of mass communication used by the government to relay its message to the people. Through the ups and downs of the 20th century, wars, social upheaval, and economic change, advertising changed too, reflecting the current times.
According to Patricia L. Fazekas, Curator of the Museum, Hungarian critic Ivá Hevesy referred to posters as the “frescoes of the street”. In the early years of 20th-century Budapest, posters were a newly pervasive part of the city scene covering advertising pillars, walls, and every available surface. Poster art flourished in Hungary at this time as it did elsewhere in Europe. New media such as film and new industries needed advertising to reach the public – the rising middle class. Commercial establishments produced posters to encourage people to buy their products and patronize their businesses. Later, posters were a means of mass communication by which the government relayed its message to the people. Through the ups and downs of the 20th century, wars, social upheaval and economic change, advertising changed, too, reflecting trends while at the same time shaping public taste.
The development of color lithography in the latter half of the 19th century made possible the reproduction of images drawn in a realistic style with a combination of line and solid areas of color. Added graphic text conveyed the advertising message. In the first decades of the 20th century, some of Hungary’s finest and best-known artists designed posters. Noted painters such as József Rippl-Ronai and Pál Szinyei-Merse created poster designs in the style of Art Nouveau or “Secession” as it was known in Central Europe. Charactered by graceful shapes in bold colors bound by thick lines, many of these early posters advertised fairs and exhibitions and later, consumer products. Some depicted a slim, graceful woman setting an elegant and appealing tone with an added touch of humor. Géza Faragó was a master of this style. Imre Földes and Mihály Biró were also prominent designers during this period with Biró were also prominent designers during this period with Biró best-known for his striking political posters.
By the 1920’s, younger designers working in the Constructivist style introduced simplified forms, dynamic composition and clean lines into poster design. With graphic design becoming a specialized area of the applied arts, more emphasis was placed on the interconnected influence of imagery and text. Róbert Berény and Sándor Bortynik pioneered this trend. In the 1920’s several different styles co-existed in poster design and in Hungarian fine art as well.
Ironically, the Great Depression of the 1930’s brought a need for more advertisement as there was more and more competition for fewer consumers. Posters advertising inexpensive quality products appeared in an attempt to rekindle sagging demand. Travel posters were created to attract tourists from abroad and these also helped to reinforce national character. The diversion of popular films in the 1930’s and 1940’s produced a flood of movie advertising. Typical movie posters featured the stars of the production while hinting at the movie’s plot with a photo-realistic look. World Ward II dramatically cut ad production, but activity picked up
afterward.
The 1950’s and beyond signaled a new era in which posters were used by the government to promote its message. While this exhibition excludes the social and political posters of the post World War II period, there are many broad hints at the attitude and policy changes that had taken place. Government-sponsored youth sport activities generated some very striking posters depicting soccer players, fencers and bicycle racers. Of course, product posters continued, and exhibition posters of all kind were produced.
Collector Andre Farkas was born in Hungary and immigrated to America in the turbulent months following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. In his native country, Mr. Farkas was a bicycle racer, so it was natural that his collection began with sports posters of the early 1950’s. His collection grew in scope and size over time and today includes several thousand pieces of paper collectibles, including posters, handbills, poster stamps and enamel signs, also included in this exhibition. “The choices made for inclusion in this exhibit were based on our desire to represent the main themes of Hungarian poster art over as broad a space of time as possible while including works by prominent designers and the best examples of each genre within the limits of the collected material. All of the posters shown are vintage examples,” says Patricia Fazekas.
Sadly, many Hungarian posters have not survived. Posters and paper advertisements are by nature ephemeral. Many pieces were also destroyed during the communist years, although there are substantial poster collections in the Hungarian National Gallery and the National Széchényi Library as well as other Hungarian institutions. Several major exhibitions of posters have been done in Hungary, one as recently as 2005 at the National Museum. However, Patricia Fazekas believes that this exhibit is the first of its kind and the largest in scope in America. “Hungarian posters have been praised for their energy, style and good taste,” she says, “we are proud to be able to present this exciting art form and this unparalleled collection to the public. We wish to express our sincere thanks to Andre Farkas for sharing his collection and for the time and effort he has devoted to this project. All works in the exhibition are loaned from his collection unless noted otherwise.”
The Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. The Museum is located at 300 Somerset Street in New Brunswick. For more details, call (732) 846-5777.
