Avant Garde in Budapest
This was art that went beyond just the visual. Meet The Eight
The Eight(Nyolcak) was an experimental art movement started by Hungarian painters, mostly active in Budapest from 1909-1918. These are not to be confused with American group of painters also known as The Eight who were later absorbed into the Ashcan school. The members of the group include Róbert Berény, Dezső Czigány, Béla Czóbel, Károly Kernstok, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, Bertalan Pór, Lajos Tihanyi. They were primarily inspired by Matisse (revolutionary artist who helped define developments in plastic arts), fauvism and Cézanne’s art (a French artist and Post-Impressionist). Their first exhibition opened on the 30th of December, 1909 at the Könyves Kálmán Salon (Budapest), under the title New Pictures.Their second exhibition was self titled ‘The Eight’ and it opened in April in 1911 in the National Salon. The Eight as a group only had three exhibitions but their activity as a group was of much significance as it had an influence that went beyond just the visual arts. The exhibitions were usually accompanied by symposia and other very fine events that involved new Hungarian literature and contemporary music.
One of the artists of the group, Ödön Márffy said, “It fills me with happiness to know that my youth coincided with that memorable period in intellectual development, when not only in Europe but also in Hungary, those seeking new, better things in literature, music, painting, science, politics and social life were carried by vibrant, seething currents.
It can’t have been by chance that Endre Ady broke in with his new songs at the time when Béla Bartók came with his new chords, when progressive intellectuals gathered round reviews like “Nyugat” (Occident) and “XX. Század” (20th century), when Nyolcak (the Eight), a group that sought new ways appeared (…)”
Category: Art & Design, Arts & Entertainment
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