Török Petra (szerk.): Sorsával tetováltan önmaga. Válogatás Lesznai Anna naplójegyzeteiből (Budapest, 2010)
Biography of Anna Lesznai
1915 1918 1919 1919 1922 1925 1931 Lesznai becomes a founder and an active member in an open ‘philosophical academy’ which attracts many of the most progressive figures of the Hungarian artistic and intellectual scene. The academy, called the ‘Sunday Circle’, is led by one of the most important philosophers of the time, György Lukács. At that time, again, she turns very actively toward story-writing and storytelling. She publishes one of her tales which becomes a milestone in Hungarian book-illustration and book-design. The book is a complete artistic masterpiece. Not only the story is written by her, but all the illustrations, the cover and the letter-type is her work and design. The title of the book is: A Tale about the Furniture and the Little Boy. This year Lesznai publishes an important, comprehensive essay on the theory and nature of literary and folk tales in the periodical ‘Nyugat’. She plays an active role in the proletarian revolution, and works as a civil servant in the educational department. She gets the task to work out art- educational reform plans for the primary and secondary schools, and to write their syllabus. After the fall of the revolution she emigrates to Vienna. Her marriage with Oszkár Jászi fails, ultimately leading to a divorce. At this time she already lives together with her new partner, the graphic artist, Tibor Gergely, who she met earlier in the ‘Sunday Circle’. She steps to the scene with a collection of poems again. The book is published in Vienna and the cover is designed by Tibor Gergely. She plays an active and central role in the social and intellectual life among the Hungarian emigrants in Vienna, and publishes in their periodicals. She spends the summers in her family’s country house in Körtvélyes, where she runs a unique ‘countryside salon’ and an artist colony. •30 She slowly turns away from design, and puts new emphasis on peasant stilllives. She uses the motifs of the village and the countryside. Her paintings of that period are exhibited several times in Vienna (Neue Galerie, Heller Salon, Bukun, Österreichisches Museum) and gain popularity. She becomes a member of the Hagendbund. She moves back to Budapest and starts teaching in a design college led by the painter Dezső Orbán. 530
