The Műcsarnok pays tribute to Tihamér Gyarmathy (1915–2005), one of the most important figures in Hungarian abstract art, with an anniversary exhibition. Forty years after the 1986 exhibition at the Műcsarnok—which marked the canonization of this legendary artist who had long been silenced—the exhibition now undertakes a review and reevaluation of his oeuvre within the context of today’s changed art scene and from a historical distance. What makes this exhibition unique is that it places Gyarmathy’s works in visual dialogue with world-renowned contemporaries such as Hans Arp, Paul Klee, Max Bill, Joan Miró, and Etienne Beothy.
The exhibition, arranged across four galleries, guides visitors from his early, figurative roots through to the cosmic visions of his mature period. The exhibition focuses on Gyarmathy’s diverse sources of inspiration: his travels in Western Europe, the European School and the circle of Abstract Artists, the 1947 international exhibitions in Paris and Hungary, Ernő Kállai’s theory of bioromanticism and the hidden forms of the microcosm, the photogram experiments inspired by László Moholy-Nagy, and the pure geometry of Lajos Kassák and Constructivism.
The exhibition traces a path from the bio-romantic perspective that underpins Gyarmathy’s art to the abstract works of his mature period, which explore the hidden connections of the cosmos; in these works, Gyarmathy sought to evoke Wholeness, to touch the Universe, to search for the meaning of existence, and to make the Invisible visible. The highlight of the exhibition is the “intellectual space” revealed in the final room, where the artist’s unique syncretic approach—the unification of various religious and philosophical influences—becomes tangible. Here, alongside paintings drawing from the macrocosm, visitors can also view an installation of the artist’s former studio and his unique collection of objects—interpretable as a model of the world—designed by György Szegő, bringing them closer to Gyarmathy’s complex inner world.
Gyarmathy’s art is a unique synthesis of organic vitality, geometric order, and spiritual freedom, in which these different perspectives do not exclude but rather complement one another. His body of work may today seem foreign and difficult to access to younger generations. The exhibition at the Műcsarnok aims to bridge this gap, rediscover his oeuvre, and establish a contemporary interpretation of it.
Tihamér Gyarmathy was a founding member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, established in 1992 as a a civil society organization, and a posthumous honorary member of the MMA.