Socialist (modernist) artworks recycled: On the fate of monumental works by Gyula Hincz
Socialist (modernist) artworks recycled: On the fate of monumental works by Gyula Hincz
Author(s): Barbara DudásSubject(s): Cultural history, Visual Arts, Aesthetics, History of Art
Published by: Editura ARTES
Keywords: Hungarian art; socialist modernism; decorative arts; socialism; contested heritage; Kádár-era; monumental public art;
Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the role of monumental socialist modernist art in the so-called Kádár era of Hungary (1957–1989), and through taking a closer look at specific monumental works designed by Gyula Hincz discusses how the relationship towards these artworks shifted after the political regime change of 1989. First, it analyses the working mechanism of state commissions for monumental public art, showing the complex nature of the works in the time of their inauguration. It then continues with some small contemporary case studies on how these works are used and interpreted, how they (dis)appear in museums, temporary exhibitions and various other forms and places of visual culture. The general aim of this paper is to provide a new reading to this contested period of Hungarian (art) history, introducing a group of artworks that rarely got any academic recognition in today’s scholarship.
Journal: Studies in Visual Arts and Communication
- Issue Year: 8/2021
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 45-53
- Page Count: 9
- Language: English