Bakos Katalin - Manicka Anna szerk.: Párbeszéd fekete-fehérben, Lengyel és magyar grafika 1918–1939 (MNG, Warszawa–Budapest, 2009)
II. HÁROM SZÓLAMBAN A LENGYEL ÉS MAGYAR MŰVÉSZETRŐL, MŰVÉSZETTÖRTÉNETRŐL ÉS TÖRTÉNELEMRŐL - Tokai Gábor: Lengyelország és Magyarország művészeti kapcsolatai a két világháború között
cannot be known whether the selection was dependent on the jury or the preliminary Hungarian procedure. At any rate, our greatest woodcut artists were included, and the number of works per artist shows that the jury had recognized them. Most importantly, two sheets of Gyula Derkovits' György Dózsa series made in 1928-29 were included, although the artist was already dead, and there is no knowing how the works were submitted. 40 That three works were reproduced in the catalogue from the eight artists must be seen as a sign of appreciation, the more so, as one (György Buday's woodcut) was picked for the title-page. It would be hard to interpret this as independent of a closer communication between the two countries. As a gesture towards the Poles (and probably as reciprocation for the above), the cover of Ervin Tóth's book on 20th-century woodcut published in 1939 featured Stanisław Ostoja-Chrostowki's engraving. 41 Within the small available space 42 , the author tried to discuss the most outstanding Polish artists, with special emphasis on the oeuvre of Władysław Skoczylas. It is an extra merit of the short Polish part that women woodcut artists are given special emphasis. As mentioned earlier, women artists play an important role in Polish art. It was in part owing to their weight that the International Exhibition of Women Artists organized by the Britain-based International Federation of Business and Professional Women was opened in Warsaw in late 1934, and then moved to Łódź. The press department of the foreign ministry issued a communique about the Warsaw exhibition, making mention of the enormous press coverage (publication of 1 32 articles) and claiming that the greatest success was scored by the Hungarian women. This statement is illustrated by sentences taken from the reviews: "The only artists whose works echo modernism are the Hungarians." "The most homogeneous and most intriguing single foreign selection is the Hungarian. It reveals most clearly an inclination for a decorative conception of represented reality and for an expressive treatment of form". An article in the November 10, 1934, issue of Magyarság let the readers know that the chairwoman of the British organizing committee of the exhibition had informed the president of the Hungarian association of the sweeping success of the Hungarian team. 43 Polish female graphic artists were also invited to join Hungarian women for an exhibition staged by the Women's International Art Club in the International Club of the Budapest Redout. On the basis of a brief review of the exhibition 44 it can be presumed that the Polish exhibitors put on display fresh woodcuts of a folklore inspiration, to which the Hungarian women artists' paintings constituted an ungainly contrast, as "most were pictures from earlier schools". The only modernist women painters involved were Piroska Futásfalvi Márton, Erzsébet R. Lóránt and Angéla Szuly (probably with few works only), while two years earlier Anna Bartoniek, Alice Endresz and Ilona Hranitzky had also been included in the Hungarian section. 45 In spite ofthat, the "exhibition was very well received." 46 Although communication among women artists of various countries was evidently less functional upon the official political and cultural relations of the countries 47 , the invitation of the Polish women graphic artists cannot have been independent of the success of the Hungarian artists in Poland, nor was it accidental that it took place at the time of the revived interrelations between the two countries. Polish and Hungarian artists jointly exhibited at an international showing on a special theme, the International Alpine Picture Exhibition in the National Salon in Spring 1930. 48 Most of the participating 1 3 Polish artists were from Zakopane. Sport as a typical concomitant of modern living was a frequent theme in the Polish art of the period, and Zakopane was the centre of winter sports (here alpinism). It is noteworthy that Zakopane bore on Polish art for other reasons as well: artists drew inspiration for a prospected national art from the folk traditions preserved in this region. In Hungary, the period ended with the termination of World War II, since the outbreak of the war did not bring about a political and cultural break here commensurable with that in Poland. Contact between the two nations during the war was restricted to the Polish refugees in Hungary out of necessity. The Hungarian government tried to take cultural moves in the interest of the Polish
