Balázs Eszter: Art in action. Lajos Kassák's Avant-Garde Journals from A Tett to Dokumentum, 1915-1927 - The avant-garde and its journals 3. (Budapest, 2017)
Eszter Balázs: Avant-Garde and Radical Anti-War Dissent in Hungary-A Tett (1915-1916)
Lamentation of Christ by the painter Péter Dobrovits, “a distinctive strategy of pacifist-oriented Expressionism",47 jarred with the interpretation of similar religious themes as war sacrificiality.48 [Figs. 8-9] This caught the eye of the authorities, who prevented distribution of the issue on the grounds of - as Kassák remembered in his autobiographical novel Egy ember élete [The Life of a Man] - “vilification of religion and class incitement committed in a picture and two articles”.49 This clearly refers to the picture of Dobrovits, and the offending articles have been identified by literary historian Ilona Illés as one by Andor Halasi entitled Új irodalmi lehetőségek [New literary opportunities] and a short story by Kassák inspired by Carlo D. Carrâ’s painting The Funeral of the Anarchist Calli.50 Challenging this to some extent is a comment in the November 1915 issue of Pesti Flirlap [Pest News] that the ban was because of Kassák’s short story and Tivadar Raith’s story A jópofa öregúr [The comical old gent].51 There were no court proceedings,52 and censorship was so chaotic that Kassák was able to print the Dobrovits picture and his own short story, without official permission, in subsequent issues.53 The “International issue” caused a much greater stir. The “Serbian Piéta", the “negro mask”, Kassák’s bold anti-war and pro-revolutionary editorial entitled Jelzés a világba [Signal to the World],54 other pacifist writings, the inclusion of Russian, Serbian, Belgian, French and British “hostile artists" and even a red cover evoking socialist movements, all defied inviolable taboos. [Figs. 10- 11] Another factor in imposing sanctions on the journal was the loosening of the wartime unity that had dominated Hungarian internal affairs after the Austro-Hungarian army suffered serious losses on the Russian front and the Romanians intruded deep into Transylvania in summer 1916. This caused an eruption of differences and tensions that had hitherto been swept under the 47 Ibid., 74. 48 Zoltán Franyó, Néhány gorombaság az igazság nevében, op. cit, 18. 49 Lajos Kassák, Egy ember élete, voi. II., op. cit., 255. 50 Ilona Illés, /4 Tett, a MA és a 2*2, Repertorium [Repertory of A Tett, MA and 2*2], Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum, Budapest, 1975, 7. 51 N.n., A Tett-et elkobozták [A Tett was seized], Pesti Hírlap, 15 November 1915, 7. 52 Lajos Kassák, Napló [Diary], A Tett, 1/3., 1915, 52. 53 Péter Dobrovits, Krisztus siratása [Lamentation of Christ], A Tett, 2/8., 1916, [unpaginated.] Lajos Kassák, Napló, Ibid., 136. Idem, Carlo D. Cárrá “Anarkistatemetés” című képe alá [Under the picture Anarchist Burial by Carlo D. Cárrá], A Tett, 2/11., 1916,174-176. English translation in Timothy O. Benson-Éva Forgács (eds.), Between Worlds, op. cit., 157-160. 54 Lajos Kassák, Jelzés a világba [Signal to the world], A Tett, 2/16., 1916,277. English translation in Gábor Dobó-Merse Pál Szeredi (eds.), Signal to the World, op. cit., 10. 46
