Béla Uitz was a leading artist of modern Hungarian painting, co-editor of the journal Ma (Today) and brother-in-law of Lajos Kassák. This exhibition of the Kassák Museum explores the influences and inspirations that led to Uitz’s monumental cycle of paintings known as the Icon Analyses.     

After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, Uitz exiled with the Hungarian Activist group to Vienna, where he joined Kassák’s circle and became acquainted with new trends in international avant-garde art. In the spring of 1921, he travelled to Moscow, where he was fascinated by both contemporary Russian Constructivist art and Orthodox churches, especially the art of the Icon.   

The focus of our exhibition is on this brief but crucial period in Uitz’s career, between 1920 and 1924. In addition to emblematic pieces from Hungarian and international museums and private collections, we also included artworks that have been less known to the public. These include two pieces from the Icon Analysis series, which were acquired by private collectors abroad, and three paintings from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery. For the first time in decades, all five of Uitz’s Icon Analyses will be shown together in the exhibition of the Kassák Museum.   

Original Orthodox icons will be shown alongside the paintings to illustrate how their iconography relates to Uitz’s abstract compositions. Another special feature of the exhibition is a collection of a hundred vintage photographs from Uitz’s estate, also on view for the first time, which provide a representative cross-section of Russian Constructivist art from 1920/21.

EXHIBITION GUIDE

CREDITS 

Curated by: Gergely Barki, Gabriella Shah, Merse Pál Szeredi 
Experts: Éva Bajkay, György Ruzsa  
Design: Tímea Andorka  
English translation: Merse Pál Szeredi 
Exhibition organization: Merse Pál Szeredi 
Intern: Anna Gyüre 
Installation: Ferenc Badak, Gábor Bogdándy, Annamária H. Kocsis, Gyula Kemény, György Mihalkov 
Transportation: Zsolt Honfi, Maurice Ward Hungary Kft.  
Communication: Renáta Szikra 
Administration: Erzsébet Károly 
Insurance: Uniqa        

In Cooperation with: Dornyay Béla Museum – Ernő Mihályfi Collection    

Lending Institutions and Collections:   

• Dornyay Béla Museum – Ernő Mihályfi Collection, Salgótarján 
• Janus Pannonius Museum – Modern Hungarian Gallery, Pécs 
• Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest  
• Private Collections