Gärtner Petra (szerk.): Csók István (1865 - 1961) festészete - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
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RESUME 465 XXV. SÁNDOR PINCZEHELYI Hommage à Csók The Hungarian Poster Association was established in 2005 by 13 founders who belonged to the distinguished representatives of the older and middle generation of the Hungarian graphic design. By today many young and talented designers have joined the association (26 members today), to work along with five art historians and exhibition organizers. Here is an extract from the Deed of Foundation:The continuous fostering of the traditions and spirit of the Hungarian and universal poster art. The guarding of the aesthetical values and ethical norms of poster art in our ever changing world. These two official sentences reflect that the association is contributing to the survival of the Hungarian poster art. Today the real poster is not the form of the street but the form of the exhibition rooms. As one can see the whole country is saturated with low quality works that lack any expertise.The Hungarian Poster Society has well-documented annual thematic exhibitions to prove that there is a high-level graphical way of thinking in Hungary; an attitude that should be made use of.The King Saint Stephen Museum and its art historians and other colleagues invited the members of the Hungarian Poster Association to design a poster to promote the exhibition. It is needless to say that they were happy to accept, since such projects are rare today. The task meant extraordinary challenge because of the unusually large size of the posters. What does a designer do with an assignment like this? Does he or she, in the fever of excitement, start to recall all his/her studies of art history, or try to think what Csók's art means for him/her or ponder how Csók had contributed to the Hungarian and universal culture? What made him different from his contemporaries and how did his activity built in the world regarding his 100-year-long life and the fact that his career developed during the changes of styles and tastes in Europe? How can we characterize the plebeian, bucolic, middle-class world represented by him? Do we have to comply with that world at all? How is it possible to depict a career that finished 50 years ago in a poster of the 21st century? Having all these questions discussed it turns out how little knowledge the designer has about the master's art, thus research, reading of books, and thorough analysis of the works begun. The concept of introducing the works in different context and with new emphasis inspired the designers'work. The enthusiasm and excitement of the museum and its colleagues was tangible during the preparation, which "shined" to the designers of the posters as well. It would be obvious to use some extracts or the whole career in the case of the promotion of an artist in a poster. However, designers are reluctant to make use of them since they may not be modern enough to draw attention to the event today. Can we find a link that would direct the attention to the message clearly? In passing - although we deal with applied art - does this belong to the work of a graphic designer, does it have the characteristics referring? (József, Árendás, Gábor Gyárfás) Another creative idea, which was actually used by some artists (István Bakos, Árpád Darvas, András Felvidéki, György Kemény), was to play with the word "csók" (csók means kiss in the Hungarian language): it could appear visually as part of the typography or another solution would be to depict the lips in some ways. The third solution applies the depiction of the brush as an important pictorial tool, which actually appeared in the works by Attila Kapitány, Károly Schmal and Tamás Tóth. All three works represent the artists'characters and the various forms how the brush can become the theme of a print. The fourth idea is a kind of reference to the atmosphere, colours and some motifs of Csók's pictures inspired by a thorough analysis of his career (Krzysztof Ducki, István Kulinyi, Gyula Molnár, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Gábor Farkas Varga). The categorizing above is a simplification, the overall picture is more tinged since there are passages among the interpretational posters. With the opportunity provided by the oeuvre exhibition, the process of design and the posters helped to get an insight of the graphic designers' intentions, who accomplished the exciting task with a tinged approach. T I
