Csaplár Ferenc szerk.: Lajos Kassák / The Advertisement and Modern Typography (1999)

The Art of Book Design and Advertising: An Exhibitio

and the arrangement of outward forms, he certainly learned a lot from Bauhaus, but this is hardly the essence of his work. His craftsmanship and his static evenness are his greatest merits. The third poster artist to experiment in modern directions is Albert Kner, whose work, like that of Bortnyik, is little expressive of experience, his messages in the formal language of posters are not succinct but reticent. Even his best work attests to his education in the applied arts. The plane as facility bogs down his imagination, forces his artistic abilities to employ tricks borrowed from the applied arts. This same priority impedes his development in book designs and other areas of typography. The rest of the poster artists follow older endeavours. But as we have said earlier, they all transcend the average. Lajos Csabai-Ékes, József Gróf, Ernő Jeges, Gyula Kaesz, and Gusztáv Végh are well-known and highly praiseworthy representatives of an advertising art that is progressing with great speed. József Pécsi has displayed photo-posters at the exhibition. As a graphic artist striving for a pictorial effect, he stands at the very forefront of our photographers. The American, Russian and other photographic experiments generally striving toward objectivity have gone far beyond toned-down pictorialness, and thus yesterday's masters of the salon are overnight either no longer considered part of things or, sensing and growing aware of new possibilities in photography, have joined the progressive movements. Pécsi's exhibits are objective, sharply focused and carefully worked out. But in spite of their great craftsmanship they are not quite photo-posters. The compositions themselves are somewhat haphazard or start out from mistaken conceptions. The subject matter is itself given first-rate accentuation, but it lacks a unified effect, even the photographs of objects lose their evocative powers in this badly constructed aggregate. As far as poster composition and that of forms and lines is concerned, it is only the sheet entitled Tungsram that indicates full completion. Pécsi ought to work according to the rules manifest here. His present posters have no do rallying effect; nonetheless, measured by the standards of German illustrated magazines, his photographs are carefully elaborated and aesthetically perfect works. In the field of book design, Dezső Fáy, Álmos Jaschik, Lajos Kozma, Imre Kner, László Reiter, and Gusztáv Végh have exhibited interesting material that represent serious standards. None of them pioneers new lines of development, but their products in their ways and artistic significance are valuable works. This group of gentlemen stand for the European standard with regard to the art of book design, their graphics point beyond illustration in the everyday sense of the word; and Imre Kner's expertise in typography and his printing achievements clearly place him in the forefront of the craft in Hungary. Here we must also mention Erzsébet Kner, the great craftswoman of book-binding. Her exhibits bear witness to texture and to precise and aesthetic elaboration. She never mistakes the task of a book-binder for that of a decorator, she never takes books for gimcrackery; she knows that books are utilitarian, and therefore need thorough fashioning. All her exhibits are the products of very fine craftsmanship with no sign of individualistic dabbling in art. Modern cover design and photo-montage are represented at the exhibition by László Moholy-Nagy, Farkas Molnár and this writer. Unfortunately, the former two have displayed far too few of their works, and thus the lay viewer can hardly be convinced of the true abilities of these two outstanding artists. The organisers ought to have taken better care to have sufficient numbers of their works presented. The author of this review has displayed about fifty of his works at the exhibition: posters, covers and photo-montages. I ought not to write about myself for this would not be "in keeping with earlier practice". All I wish to say is that some of these exhibits I find good enough by my own evaluation. One characteristic of my works is that among advertisements they represent social propaganda. Apart from recognised artists, we should also mention the pupils of certain masters among whom there are a number of hopefully promising talents capable of further development. I would especially emphasise Bortnyik's school. In summary, we are happy to welcome the introductory exhibition of book designers and advertisement artists. We should rejoice at this quantitatively and qualitatively valuable production from both an artistic and a social point-of-view. Not all has been swamped, not all has gone rotten under the pressures of reaction and asphalt cynicism. Under the desperate surface, there are brisk forces shooting up; it is only a matter of time that these forces of new optimism and new conviction take on a destructive and constructive role in the arts as well as in politics and economics. SZÁZADUNK (OUR CENTURY), MAY 1930, PP. 291-294. Advertisement, Munka 4 (Budapest 1929), 262x185 mm szomorúság piacán címmel megjelenik januárban zelk zoltán verseskönyve, a fedőlapot kassák lajos tervezi . . , elofizetesi ara: 2 pengő a m a t ö r p é I d á n y : 5 pengő előfizetni lehet a „munka" kiadóhivatalában 22