Bakos Katalin: Ellentétek szintézise, Konecsni György plakátművészete 1932–1948 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2005/5)

SUMMARY A Synthesis of Opposites: György Konecsni's Poster Art 1932-1948 In 1934, Károly Rosner, a chronicler of Hungarian poster art in the interwar period, declared that the Hungarian poster "was on the horn of a dilemma". The possibilities inherent in the type of constructive, objective poster concentrating on the object for sale that had triumphed during the turn of the twenties and thirties began to be exhausted. It was not only aesthetic demands that called for changes, but social and commissioner expectations also required something new. Starting out at the beginning of the 1930s, György Konecsni (Kiskunmajsa, 8 January, 1908 - Budapest, 29 January, 1970) and members of his generation, largely upon his influence, filled the gap noted by Rosner; they took over the torch, and made steps toward a type of poster preferring emotions, narrative elements or symbolic values. Though the fundamentally modernistic outlook was maintained by the artists, they introduced elements of folklore and classical art into the world of the poster. Konecsni achieved his first great successes in the field of travel posters, which gained importance from the beginning of the 1930s. Posters became factors in cultural diplomacy, both as decorations in travel agents' offices, waiting-rooms or shop-windows and as objects at exhibitions. In his work, Konecsni blended in a harmonic unity elements regarded mutually exclusive in the painting of the period. His first prize-winning piece, Gyógyvízben fürödj (Bathe in Medicinal Water), finely illustrates the point. Its effect is based on combining two absolutely contrasting modes of representation: a female nude in a soft-tone outline suggestive of an antique sculpture and a white contour line depicting the symbols of healing. Fairs, such as the Budapest International Fair (BNV), are the great events of economic tourism, and its poster was commissioned by competition each year since 1923. Konecsni produced several designs, with the one printed in 1941 becoming widely known (cat. no. 22). The reannexation of formerly Hungarian territories between 1938 and 1940 and their reintegration into the life of the country provided the backdrop for posters such as Jöjjetek a Felvidékre és a Kárpátokba! (Come to the Uplands and the Carpathians!) (1939) and Erdély (Transylvania) (1941, cat. no. 21). Konecsni played an important part in shaping the graphic layout of the Hungária Magazin, the official magazine of Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) and a travel agency (Ibusz). In 1934, Konecsni's poster entitled Hungary won the Fuad challenge cup awarded by the International Travel Association at the International Travel Fair in Rome. The figure of the girl in traditional Matyó wear with a butterfly in the colours of several nations in her hand was highly successful at various other exhibitions and was published several times. The International Travel Poster Exhibition at the National Salon in 1936 brought Konecsni even wider acclaim. His Budapest fürdőváros (Spa City Budapest) (cat. no. 5) was awarded the prize for the most propagandistic poster, and the public polled chose his Hortobágy (cat. no. 8) for the prize for the most beautiful poster. Produced together with Antal Fery, Hortobágy won him a Fuad trophy again at a Luzern exhibition in 1936. Gáz fűt és hüt (Gas Heats and Cools) (cat. no. 7) was published in 1937, and the funny pipe man and the three-tongued flame Konecsni created remained the emblem of the company even after the war. This is the work of his most often reproduced in the foreign literature. It must have been on account of the success of the posters that he was commissioned to decorate the travel section of the Hungarian pavilion at the 1937 Paris World Fair. For this, he was given a certificate of merit, but he was far more delighted to receive the Grand Prix awarded by foreign experts for his posters displayed at the Pavillion de Publicité. In 1939, he also won a Grand Prix for his posters at the Milan International Triennial of Applied Arts. In the meanwhile, he was commissioned with a major task for the 1938 St Stephen Year. The poster (cat. no. 9) he made for this came out in several languages, and was used as both cover and leaflet. In 1940, Lajos Pá Ifi published a collection of his later travel posters in Gebrauchsgraphik, including Szegedi Szabadtéri Játékok (Open-Air Plays, Szeged) (cat. no. 11 ), a poster printed in several languages and depicting a horseman and a peasant woman (cat. no. 12), as well as brochures advertising Lake Balaton and Bugac (cat. nos. 19 and 14). Many of Konecsni's posters never got on to billboards and remained unknown to the public because they were overmatched by the works of other artists participating in competitions. The witty idea of Flora a jó szappan (Flora is the Good Soap), a white crow, was equalled by the finely elaborated compositions of István Irsai. Several well-known painters had the opportunity to create posters for Modiano's cigarette paper. We do not know why Konecsni was not awarded a commission but he would certainly have deserved it on the basis of the idea he painted (cat. no. 27). His cigarette version, a paraphrase of Berény's Modiano, was published as an advertisement of Senator in 1935, our exhibition displaying its interior-space version (cat. no. 3). The theme of Tejben fürdik Liz tejszínszappannal (Bathe in Milk with Liz Cream Soap) (cat. no. 28), bathing and hygiene, meant a return to the imagery of his first success, Bathe in Medicinal Water. A few of his commercial posters were made under the spell of the constructive tendency: Kakas paszta (Shoe-polish Rooster) (cat. no. 29), Palma-Okma (cat. no. 30), Emergé (cat. no. 37). In the design made for the detergent Puce (cat. no. 33) and in the printed posters - Minden elszakad