Pop Art in HungaryIn the 50’s and

60’s ,when Popart

was introduced in

the States and

Great Britain,

there was no Coke

, no Campbell

tomato soup , no

pop culture in

Hungary.

Consumer society

did not exist in our

country ,instead

we had so called

‘shortage

economy’ , ’

rationing system’

and Soviet-style

dictatorship.

The supported style was Socialist Realism.

Csáji Attila: Komplementer színek számokkal / Complementary colors with numbers (1973 )

After the 56

revolution

slowly but

surely things

got a bit

better.

In ’65

Hungarian

Pop Art

appeared,

However,the

best works

were made in

the 70’s.

Csáji Attila: A haladás kettős szimbóluma / The double symbol of progression (1970)

So the next

difference is that

Hungarian artists

didn’t use

everyday objects

of consumer

society in their

works, but

symbols of

communism ,like

red ,five-pointed

star or ‘hammer

and sickle’ or even

images of

communist

politicians.

Fogyasztói kultúra fogyasztói társadalom nélkül / Consumer culture without consumer society

Artists

protested

against

dictatorship and

communism, as

a result ,most

Hungarian Pop

Art artists ‘

works were

prohibited ,

some of them

were not

allowed to

exhibit for 40

years until the

‘Changes’.

Veszely Ferenc: Képregény / Comic (1974)

The

techniques

used are

the same:

screen

prints,

 collages,

combine

paintings,

assemblage

.

A final twist or the beauty of sosialismWhile fine art was strictly controlled and pop art paintings could not be seen in art galleries and

museums, streets were full of pop art film posters, disc covers and advertising posters . Ironicly in a ‘shortage economy ‘ posters were important and

applied graphic designers weren’t under such a tight controll.

Szyksznian Wanda: Disc Cover 1969 (on the left) Kemény György: Szép lányok ne sírjatok ( film poster / Beautiful girls do not cry) 1970 (on the right)