Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 11. (Budapest, 1991)
STURCZ János: Maróti Géza pályaműve a Rockefeller Centerhez
side, the picture of the printing machine and the apprentice appear again, now as an allegory of ,ßook printing". The group is surmounted by the emblem of Washington, with the Capitol in the centre ("Washington. Television.,,). There is no connection between the groups and the allegorical figures except for the two symmetrical, naked, angel-like female figures. One, „The Voice from the clouds" flies with a hand raised in blessing towards the workers. The other, identical figure, flying towards the white-collar group, is named „World Fame". THE MEANING OF THE SYMBOLS Since there has been no attempt so far to interpret the picture and no documents have survived concerning the artist's own interpretation, I shall try explain the motifs by comparing the classical iconographie definitions and the given task (i.e. to praise mass communication). AEONS - OUR AGE It was no mere chance that the figure of the child was placed in the centre of the piece, since among classical symbols it has always represented the mystic centre. Traditional iconography distinguishes between three different meanings of the child figure. 20 One one hand it is the messenger (e.g. the angels in Christian iconography), on the other hand it is a symbol of knowledge. 21 It also represents the mystic centre, the constantly reviving power of youth. Each of the three meanings can be connected to mass communication and may refer to the information circuit as the mystic centre of modem society. Connecting Aeons, the Our Age may allude to the union of past and present, the importance of continuity. Perhaps the same idea is symbolized by the entwined limbs of the two figures, creating an interesting circle. The figures are the allegory of intelligence gained in the past but shaped actively in the present and spread by mass communication, the blessings of which can be checked on the figures below. (The different autologous states are marked with the motifs of dreaming and being awake; while the Present is active and awake, the Past appears passive and slumbering.) 22 However, traditional iconography never uses children as the symbol of the present; nor young females as the allegory of the past. Traditionally, a child will represent the future, described together with an old man who stands for the past. Maróti's optimistic symbols advance the future and „rejuvenate" the past, considering the present as the start. Thus, he symbolically accelerates time and this fits well into the accelerated information stream of mass communication and the euphoric belief that it will serve progress. 23 The pattern springing from the Past and Present group obviously refers both to radio waves and mental radiation. Maróti reveals three types of information conveyed by the media. One is the artisticmusical one, represented by the two poetmusicians. The other is the scientific one, symbolized by the figures of Wisdom and New Religion, the group of scientists and Book Printing. 24 Whereas the third type of information is the political one, represented here by World Press. 253 ORPHEUS - BEETHOVEN Orpheus and Beethoven, two heroes of culture from the classical and the modern world, arc depicted facing each other. They create the real spiritual centre of the composition; their symbolic meaning extends far beyond music 26) or even the arts - they
