Figurative art reflects not only the representation of the body, but also the imprint of human experience. MODEM’s new exhibition, Bodies and Memories, presents post-war Hungarian figurative art through a selection from the Antal–Lusztig collection. The exhibition is not a historical overview, but a contemporary reinterpretation: a discovery of the collection’s human-centered, sensitive perspective.
One of the starting points of the exhibition is the relationship between Péter Antal and Lili Ország, which determined the beginning and direction of the collection. As a young collector in the late 1960s, Antal was the first to visit Ország’s studio and purchase her first work of art. In doing so, he chose not only a painting, but also an approach: a personal connection to the image as a body of memory. This gesture continues to define the collection’s relationship to figurative art to this day.
The exhibition is structured around four intertwined concepts: form, role, memory, and myth. These motifs do not separate, but rather connect: body and spirit, past and present, vision and memory.
Bodies and Memories draws attention to the constant movement and rebirth of figurative art. The intertwining layers of form, role, memory, and myth show that figurativeness is not a closed era, but a living, constantly reinterpreted way of seeing.
Artists: Anna Margit, Bálint Endre, Bozsó András, Böröcz András, Bukta Imre, Csernus Tibor, Csontó Lajos, El Kazovszkij, Eperjesi Ágnes, feLugossy László, Ferenczy Noémi, József Gaál, Péter Gémes, Katalin Káldi, Balázs Kicsiny, Béla Kondor, Gyula Konkoly, Dezső Korniss, László Lakner, Viktor Lois, László Méhes, Gábor György Nagy, Hajnal Németh, István Nyári, Lili Ország, Gyula Pauer, György Román, Géza Samu, Erzsébet Schaár, Ákos Szabó, Dezső Szabó, József Szurcsik, Attila Szűcs, Menyhért Tóth, Péter Ujházi, Tibor Vilt, András Wahorn, and Zuzu-Vető. (Lóránt Méhes, János Vető)