Imre Pán is known to the Hungarian public as the poet associated with the MA magazine, the creator of the Dadaist publication IS, or one of the founding theorists of the European School, without whom Lajos Kassák’s exhibitions in Paris would not have been possible. Our temporary exhibition focuses on an important period of his activity in France, in which Victor Vasarely played a leading role, and in which he is less well known in Hungary.
Imre Pán moved permanently to Paris in 1957 and until his death in 1972 he published one hundred and forty-five bibliophilic booklets of individual prints, including fourteen of his series “Signe”, “Morphèmes” and “Mini-Musée”, dedicated to Vasarely’s art.
The bulk of the material in the exhibition consists of Vasarely’s drawings, collages, watercolours and serigraphs from their joint albums, as well as graphic works by the artist, produced between 1930 and 1960, which once belonged to Pan’s collection and came from France.
Exhibition organizer, art consultant, publisher, editor, art dealer and art collector, all were positions held by Imre Pán in Budapest and Paris. Thanks to his poetic inclination, as an art writer he also resonated sensitively with the works of his contemporaries, perhaps most sensitively with the universe of Hungarian-born op art ‘créateur’:
“Vasarely’s paintings are like a screen on which the spectrum projects the play of space. In Vasarely’s work, this cosmic rhythm is rendered extremely human, as if a special seismographer were simultaneously drawing the movement of gravitational fields and the heartbeat of the astonished viewer.”