Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 12. (Budapest, 1992)

HORVÁTH Hilda: Marcel Jean textiltervei a Francia-Magyar Pamutipar RT számára

HILDA HORVÁTH MARCEL JEAN'S TEXTILE DESIGNS FOR THE FRENCH-HUNGARIAN COTTON INDUSTRY CORPORATION Encouraged by the joy of exploration and the intensive public interest in surrealism, we would like to introduce die textile designs of Marcel Jean, a French surrealist painter, poet and essayist. The designs were made in Hungary and can now be found in the Data Collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts.

1 Marcel Jean joined the Surrealists in 1933; he exhibited with this group several times and his works were published in different surrealist issues. His album, which was made together with his brotiier, André Jean, and which was published in 1935, contains twenty-four drawings by Marcel Jean.

2 He strictly followed the theoretical and aesthetic views of the surrealistic trend, adding a few individual technical devices to the assets of this entirely new style. For example, with his friend Oscar Dominguez, ha invented a new procedure similar to monotype, which they called "a transfer without a premeditated target". Jean used the transfer on canvas, while Dominguez applied it to paper.

3 Their unpublished joint album, Grisou, contains transsfcrs widi interpretations.

4 Marcel Jean used stencils as well to produce unusual and audacious compositions.

5 His peculiar, playful, bourgeois-teasing ideas created artistic objects from everyday utensils and industrial products, giving an obscure content to the eccentric shapes. Surrealist exhibitions were astonishing attractions, especially where objects were exhibited or arranged in the spectacle. Marcel Jean's "Horoscope", for example, was exhibited in 1938 in die Galerie Beaux-Arts. At this monumental exhibition, revolving doors were placed in die main hall, togctiicr with paintings of Tanquy, Dominguez, Marcel Jean and Paalen, while Marcel Jean's Mannequin stood on the left.

6 In die 1930s, Marcel Jean worked for various factories in order to earn a living, yet his left-wing political activity was nowhere welcome. He was an active member of die Contre-Attaque anti-=fascist group. This was opposed to all kinds of dictatorship, and attacked not only German plans to rule die world, but also Stalinism and die personality cult in Moscow.

7 The factory management suspected his involvement widi factory strikes, but, because of lack of evidence, he was offered a job abroad. From among several countries, he chose Hungary.

8 He arrived in Budapest in September 1928, and he was the head of the designer's workshop in the FrenchHungarian Cotton Industry Coqioration. The firm was had been in the late 1920s with French participation; however, during World War II, its name was changed to the Budapest Cotton Industry Corporation under German pressure. The managers were mainly French, but were often intimidated by the Germans.

9 Marcel Jean had been