The exhibition, called MAGYAR GRAFIKA: Hungarian Posters, Advertising and Ephemera, shows commercial, movie, travel and sports posters from the 1910s through the1980s. Seventy-five vintage posters, some by Hungary's best-known graphic designers, show Hungarian cultural trends and historic influence. Also included in the display are small paper advertising, handbills, poster stamps and enamel signs.
Some of the finest and best-known Hungarian artists of the day designed posters. Their work mirrored the stylistic trends in culture as well as commerce. Early 20th century posters were created by such notable Hungarian painters as József Rippl-Rónai, Gyula Benczúr and Pál Szinyei Merse. Others came to poster design through the applied arts, such as the celebrated Mihály Biró. By the 1920s they were joined by avant-garde artists Róbert Berény and Sándor Bortnyik, with several different styles of work being produced at the same time.
Most of the exhibition material is from the collection of Andre Farkas, a former bicycle racer who emigrated to America in the months after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Source: Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation / MTI
