The work of this group of artists, which was active between 1945 and 1948, played a significant role in the history of twentieth-century Hungarian art and influenced later generations, will be presented in the exhibition opening in MűvészetMalom with the help of new aspects and research results. The exhibition was preceded by several years of research work, in which prominent experts on the subject – Krisztina Passuth, Mária Árvai, Emőke Bodonyi, Sándor Hornyik, Gábor Pataki, György Várkonyi – participated.
In addition to thematic units, the activities of the European School and its splinter group of Detached Artists in Hungary will be explored through reconstructions of contemporary exhibitions. More than 200 works of art on loan from important collections in Hungary and abroad, including not only the Hungarian members of the group, but also Czech, Romanian, Dutch and French artists who participated in their exhibitions or had contacts with them, are on display.
During the years of the short-lived Hungarian democracy, the European School sought to represent progressive Hungarian art, while also trying to introduce new trends in European art to the country. The group’s three years of existence were marked by intensive exhibition planning, dissemination, publications and international contacts. In addition to artists, it has been joined by theoreticians, writers, poets, doctors and art collectors.
For a short time, it seemed that European and Hungarian art could be brought into synchrony, but the members of the European School felt under attack from 1947 onwards and finally, in 1948, had to close down.
Among the artists in the exhibition are 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, among others, József Jakovits, Dezső Korniss, Tamás Lossonczy, Gyula Marosán, János Martinszky, Ferenc Martyn, Ödön Márffy, Endre Rozsda, Ernő Schubert, Piroska Szántó, Júlia Vajda, Tibor Vilt, Magda Zemplényi.