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Lajos Vajda's work |
The paper reviewed a selection of paintings, drawings and photo montages by Lajos Vajda at the American University's Katzen Art Center and another exhibition of photographs by Hungarian women taken between 1910 and 1946 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
"If your idea of Hungarian culture is Franz Liszt's piano music, think again," the paper said about the exhibitions. "Hungary spawned some of the most forward-looking artists of the 20th century, particularly in the developing medium of photography."
Among the Hungarian photographers already well known to Americans are Robert Capa, Andre Kertesz and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who emigrated to the West.
"Left behind in Budapest were artists as equally talented. Complementary exhibitions at American University's Katzen Art Center and the National Museum of Women in the Arts reveal their little known accomplishments," The Washington Times said.
The Washington Times called the Vajda exhibition at the Katzen the more surprising of the two. "This short-lived collagist and painter - Vajda died at age 33 - synthesized strains of art from East and West in unexpected ways."
Around 80 works by 21 female contemporaries of Vajda are on show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition opened on March 19 and runs through August 23.
The photographs "prove that these undervalued women were just as adept as their more famous male counterparts in advancing a modern vision," the paper said.
"Both exhibits remind us that modernism in the interwar years was a far richer movement than standard interpretations suggest. Hungarian photographers and artists put their own spin on the spare style through their interest in folkloric traditions, political awareness and social advocacy," The Washington Times said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
