It was the Foundation for Hungarian Graphic Art (AMGA) that initiated and, after its realisation, organised the regular, annual presentation of the Graphic Art of the Year Award, thus promoting the graphic art endeavours of Hungarian artists. We would like to commemorate the professional organising and community-building work of Munkácsy Award-winning graphic artist András Butak, which he pursued for decades until his death in December 2021. He headed the Association of Hungarian Graphic Artists as its president, which was the organisation that created the Foundation. With his passing, the world of contemporary art has suffered an irreplaceable loss.
The award itself, an airy plexiglass work by Kossuth Prize-winning artist László Paizs, has been passed from hand to hand as a challenge trophy since 1993, initially providing modest, then more substantial financial support. The selection of the winners each year is also unusual, with previous recipients choosing the artist of the following year. After the initial period, the masters of the Graphics Department at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts have organised an exhibition of the winning artist’s work in the university’s Béla Kondor Gallery each spring. For a decade now, the financial support for the award has been donated by the Fine Arts Section of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.
A special feature of the current exhibition at Műcsarnok is that the artists will present their most recent work alongside their previous award-winning works. No less unique and characteristic is the age of the exhibitors, including some with a master-apprentice background and a line-up that already represents three generations of artists.