EXHIBITION & CATALOGUE DESIGN

Wanted / Lost & Found

In Search of Lost Hungarian Cubism

À la recherche du cubisme hongrois perdu

Fine art exhibition at Hungarian Cultural Centre Paris, France | 2021
Curator: Gergely Barki

The research of Hungarian cubism is a virgin field, since earlier it was rather denied by the researchers themselves. In the last 10 years, however, it has become increasingly clear that a coherent Hungarian Cubist diaspora had formed in Paris in the few years before the First World War, around such internationally pioneering Cubist artists as József Csáky and Alfréd Réth.
Most of the Cubist œuvre of the ten or so artists has been lost in obscurity, forgotten, disappeared. In the last 10 years, Gergely Barki has discovered and found several hundred Hungarian cubist works that were thought to be lost or previously completely unknown. This spring he organised an exhibition of some of his findings in Paris, which has led to the discovery of new works.

In the ground floor hall, reproductions of the lost works were exhibited. Some of these were known from archival photographs or from descriptions, reminiscences, catalogue records or press reports, but a large number were not even recorded in writing. These works are still being sought by the curator, Gergely Barki!
On the first floor, a fragment of the works, paintings, prints and sculptures that have already been found thanks to the research of the last decade is on display. The exhibition catalogues tell the adventurous story of the works from their disappearance to their discovery.

3D Reconstruction Experiments of Joseph Csaky's lost Cubist sculptures

The 3D installation, centrally located on the ground floor, was the result of a playful imagination that could open the door to further scientific observations.

Joseph Csaky's lost cubist sculptures are largely catalogued from a single archived photograph per-piece. The 2-dimensional images of the original works naturally pose questions as to the volumes, proportions and detailing of the unknown perspectives. The early B&W photographs presented on the walls of the exhibition were the elementary starting points for the 3D reconstruction experiments. Naturally all assumptions are the matter of imagination, while referring to certain fundamental sculptural rules and observations of existing works by Csaky in and around his cubist period. Perhaps by means of this 3D project, the gravity of Csaky’s cubist works are freshly observed and furthermore it may help one to perceive the impact of his works when exhibited to the former Parisian audience in the early 1910's. The development of the digital 3D project was carried out by a multi disciplinary reconstruction team including Jin Ho Jeon, Marcell Barts, Márton Barki and the team of Silent Resource, Stuttgart, Germany. Special thanks to Mr Mark Byass, the leader of this 3D project.