Under an Ominous Sign | The European School (1945-1948)

The art of the European School – a group of artists which was active between 1945 and 1948, and which not only played a significant role in twentieth-century Hungarian art history but also influenced later generations – will be presented in the exhibition held at the ArtMill from a new perspective, based on fresh research findings. The exhibition was preceded by several years of research work, with the participation of such prominent experts on the subject as Krisztina Passuth, Mária Árvai, Emőke Bodonyi, Sándor Hornyik, Gábor Pataki and György Várkonyi. In addition to thematic units, exhibition reconstructions allow insight into the activities of the European School, as well as the Hungarian Group of Abstract Artists, which later formed from it. The exhibition, which includes more than 200 works of art borrowed from prominent Hungarian and foreign collections, presents pieces not only by the Hungarian members of the European School, but also by Czech, Romanian, Dutch and French artists who participated in their exhibitions or were in active contact with them.
During the years of Hungary’s short-lived democracy, the European School sought to represent progressive Hungarian art while also promoting new tendencies in European art. The three years of the group’s operation were marked by numerous exhibitions, as well as intensive engagement in educational activities and the dissemination of information. The group also issued numerous publications and maintained international contacts. In addition to the artists, the group also included theoreticians, writers, poets, doctors and art collectors. While, for a short time, it seemed that European and Hungarian art could be brought into synchrony, the members of the European School felt under attack from 1947 onwards. Finally, in 1948, they had to cease their operation. The exhibition features works by Margit Anna, Jenő Barcsay, Endre Bálint, Béla Bán, Lajos Barta, Dezső Bokros Birman, Béla Czóbel, József Egry, Béla Fekete Nagy, Erzsébet Forgács Hann, Jenő Gadányi, Tihamér Gyarmathy, József Jakovits, Dezső Korniss, Tamás Lossonczy, Gyula Marosán, János Martinszky, Ferenc Martyn, Ödön Márffy, Endre Rozsda, Ernő Schubert, Piroska Szántó, Júlia Vajda, Tibor Vilt and Magda Zemplényi, among others.