Csaplár Ferenc szerk.: Lajos Kassák / The Advertisement and Modern Typography (1999)
Ferenc Csaplár: Kassák the Book and Advertisement Artist
It was probably also due to Kállai's opinion that, before returning from exile, Kassák was planning to appear before the public with an exhibit of his books and posters. The plan could not be realised for lack of finances. 6 8 The Mentor book shop at No. 17 Andrássy út, which would have been the scene of the exhibition, devoted a whole shop window to Tisztaság könyve. The display was designed by the painter, Béla Kádár. At its centre stood a miniature edifice made of thirty or forty copies of the book, and leaning against it, as an explanation of the book's typographical shaping and a personal manifesto, was the manuscript of Kassák's essay "On Books". The background consisted of a geometrical figure made up of copies of the poster designed by Kassák for the book shop and of the sheets of the book's typeset by Kassák himself. Kassák also produced the posters announcing the publication of the book, and he also planned to have them pasted on hoardings around the city. He, however, had to give up on this spectacular element of the advertising campaign prior to his return for fear of political attacks. 6 9 The essay "The Advertisement" printed in the volume was internationally acclaimed almost immediately and became the definitive discussion of the new aspirations of the art of advertising. It had, in fact, been printed before the publication of Tisztaság könyve in the Brünn (or Brno, now Czech Republic) Pásmo and the Kolozsvár (or Cluj, Romania) Korunk. 7 0 It became available in translation for German readers through its appearance in the Zurich magazine Das Werk in July 1926. 7 1 And was also reprinted in a special edition of the Viennese Kunst und Volk on the art of book design in April 1930. 7 2 In 1927, Kassák participated in a major international exhibit on the art of advertising entitled "Grafische Werbekunst", which was mounted by the Mannheim Städtische Kunsthalle. At the exhibit, open between 7 August and 30 October, Hungarian graphic arts in advertising, apart from works by Kassák, were represented by those of Róbert Berény, Árpád Bardócz, Mihály Bíró, Sándor Bortnyik, and Márton Tuszkay. Kassák sent twenty original pieces to Lajos Kassák with his advertising-box Photograph by József Pécsi, 1927 77
