Fery Veronika szerk.: Fery Antal élete, munkássága, alkotásainak jegyzéke (Miskolc, 2005)

The life and work of Antal Fery by Dr. Imre Soós

broken out. The list of his works doesn't include any small prints for the years 1944 and 1945. In 1946 he produced nine and in 1947 only two. At the beginning of the 1950s he only made one or two small graphic works a year. After fifteen years of inactivity, in 1959 the Circle of Lovers of Small Prints was set up (KBK), bringing together old and new collectors. Succeeding excellent predecessors, Antal Fery became president of the association from 1978 till his death in 1994. A short time after the foundation of the KBK, an extensive exchange connection developed not only within the country boundaries but with foreign collectors too. The correspondence was blooming at a time when passports were hard to come by. Hungary was in a favourable position: in the West many remembered the quality of Hungarian graphic art and the artists between the two wars. Incredible though it may sound, in hindsight we can claim that the KBK with its European links which spread in the 1960s operated virtually without any Communist Party guidance or supervision. Granted neither the creation nor the collection of small prints affected the "masses" nor were there significant financial advantages to be had. In the 1960s Antal Fery's fame as a graphic artist spread beyond the borders of Hungary. In 1960 there was an article written on him in the Danish Nordisk Exlibris Tidskrift, in 1963 Bono Salvatore reviewed his work in the magazine Exlibris published in Rome and he was written about in a Dutch graphic art newspaper by Herbert Blokland. In 1962 the KBK published a portfolio comprising 40 ex libris by Antal Fery. In the foreword Ferenc Galambos talks about the secret of his art. "First and foremost its simplicity. This simplicity is not the result of a lack of imagination but the rare quality of being able to express himself concisely." Talking about the prints he refers to the close connection between the letters and the picture, the artist's respect for material, his well-planned use of a small surface and his ability to compress the essence. In June 1965 the National Széchényi Library staged an exhibition of his ex libris. In the foreword of the catalogue he talks about his encounter with "the magic of woodcuts". Among the thoughts he expressed on ex libris the following should be borne in mind by both graphic art collectors and patrons: "I know from experience that the poorest ex libris come into being when the artist listens too carefully to the person giving the order." In the same year he was invited to the international ex libris biennale in Malbork, Poland. The international organisation of ex libris associations, the FISAE (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Amateurs d'Exlibris) held its 12th congress in June 1968 in Como, Italy. On this occasion the federation published its first year book under the title "Artists of Ex Libris." The first volume featured 17 artists. Hungary was represented by Antal Fery with ten original small prints. These FISAE year