Dr. Flóra Mészáros, a Lute. The infinity of the circle the curator of the exhibition tells
Ferenc Luntos (1929–2014), the organic and geometric abstract works of this pioneering figure of twentieth-century Hungarian art often left the world of canvas. His progressive visual world was also embodied in building friezes or land-art works, connected to the April Architecture & Art to our theme. On the 13th of April Lute. The infinity of the circle an exhibition opened in Füredi Zsdrál Art Contemporary Art Gallery with more than fifty works in different mediums, it tells about one of the most characteristic elements of Luton’s oeuvre, the artist’s relationship to the circle motif. We asked Dr. Flóra Mészáros, the curator of the exhibition, who, as a Lantos researcher, is also the author of the recently published Lantos monograph.
From a curatorial point of view, how did you evaluate the interior design of the Zsdrál Art gallery in Balatonfüred? How did you use the interior?
Many people think of the term gallery as small white cube spaces. That is why I was attracted to organize an exhibition in the Zsdrál Art space in Balatonfüred, since the architecture of the gallery breaks with tradition and rather evokes Western foundation museums, with its approximately 400 m2 building consisting of rammed concrete and white-painted walls, as well as huge glass walls . THE Lute. The infinity of the circle In connection with the exhibition entitled, in my curatorial concept, I followed the increasingly complex appearance of Ferenc Lantos’s (1929-2014) circle theory.
In the institution, the clear circle identification of natural motifs, the refined circle analyses, and the transposition of the found visual order into different techniques, and finally the complex mathematical works were given a wall/space each.
The narrative of the exhibition corresponds not only to the visuality created by Lantos, but also to the way in which the viewer can understand nonfiguration itself: from abstraction starting from nature, through concrete art to more complex, strict geometric art. With this, you can move easily not only in the world of Lantos, but also in non-representative art, which is foreign to many.
With the invented concept, however, I also had to adapt to the conditions of the space. On the one hand, the spectacular, bright, monumental nature of the gallery helped my ideas. On the other hand, the polygonal giant space is not a traditional exhibition space, so for example there was a challenge in filling the high, large concrete wall next to the stairwell and its continuation. Based on my thematic idea, the works exemplifying Lantos’s visual language system and his environmental art achievements were placed here: his large, spectacular enamels, a complete line of friezes, and graphics and paintings evoking Bauhaus colors – which filled the entire mentioned space.
The aim was for the building to retain its contemporary effect, but at the same time, due to the nature of the exhibition, also take on a museum effect for a few weeks.
As a lute researcher, how do you see the artist’s pioneering role in non-figuration?
I am very happy about the use of the word pionír, because it returns as a key term in the recently published Lantos monograph written under my authorship and published by Zsdrál Art. According to this, Lantos is a pioneer both in terms of his creative language that geometrizes the view experienced in nature, but also with his efforts ahead of his contemporaries. Thus, in a cultural milieu closed off due to political pressure, it seems unique that he came to minimalist and geometric experiments similar to those of his American and Western counterparts without having any knowledge of Western art. His land art work is also a pioneer in the domestic field, he is considered the first in this field, but he can also be considered a pioneer with his enamels, especially because he wanted to affect the entire environment: interior spaces, building friezes are associated with his name. In addition, he also designed the decoration of the first plastic architectural facade at home in a circular manner.
Which of the fifty works in the exhibition would you highlight?
The choice is difficult, since the strong material of Zsdrál Art is unusually supplemented by loans from private and public collections, due to the as thorough representation of the theme as possible and the full display of iconic works. The infinity of the circle The exhibition guides visitors to Lantos’ different perspective in four units. He first investigates when Lantos he interprets the circle as an element that can be derived from nature. The creation of the flower A series of four graphics (Zsdrál Art) revolves around the birth and flowering of a flower similar to a gerbera/sunflower. Lantos indicates with clear line highlights that the phenomenon itself describes a circular shape as a whole, and that the circularity remains proportional to the growth. We can also witness the workings of nature, the structure of the created order and the understanding of abstraction in this wonderful, educational study series. In the additional unit a A modular language created by Lantosthen that extension of environmental artthen as a conclusion resolution of the circle, mathematical possibilities (interference) come to life in the gallery through the artworks. In addition to the kindergarten building frieze or the land art work, its independent enamels are also emphasized. Starting from the end of the 1960s, Lantos leaves the usual “table picture frame” and experiments with the circle as a form through enamels. One of the most exciting pieces from this period can be seen in the exhibition, an enamel No. 69, which, with its black and white contrast, in a circle divided into a grid structure, evokes the gestural solutions of Jackson Pollock – while Lantos could not have known the American example (Budapest-A. Collection).
Please tell us about the concept of the land art installation and the building frieze…
Ferenc Lantos the Kassák creed, “art accessible to everyone” he promoted his idea and saw an opportunity for consciousness formation in the extension of non-figurative art to environmental and architectural art. His works aimed at understanding the relationship with the host nature and the created order in an era when the socialist cultural policy of the time did not want to associate any meaning with abstract forms. That is why it is exciting that the visual system he developed was one of the first to appear among young people, in kindergarten hairdressers. Thus, in 1972, at the Tulip Kindergarten in Székesfehérvár – which was named after his creation and can still be seen in its original form – or in the same year at the hairdresser’s at the kindergarten in Viktória Street in Pécs. The latter series of elements was exhibited on the upper level of the gallery after restoration “through the rescue” of Zsdrál Art. The frieze, architectural detail of the former childcare institution, and the repetitions of the “heart shape” created from the circles, shine before the viewer’s eyes in blue and white colors, that is, stripped of their specific function, they also function as an image.
While the land art installation focuses on another of Lantos’s created shapes, a tulip-like shape created from circles and other geometric shapes. Thanks to the fixation of the tulip enamels on the artificial grass ground and the park revealed behind the window, the recipient can feel among the enamel tiles installed in the Tetty park in Pécs in the late 1960s.
How do you evaluate the exhibition after the opening?
One of the special features of the event was that, in addition to the land art installation placed in the interior, we also arranged a land art mini-exhibition in the small park in front of the building. Lantos’ spatial studies placed in a green environment introduced the viewer to the world of the circle. We had a very successful opening, about two hundred people visited Balatonfüred at the vernissage. For me, the most positive feedback is that the concept – in addition to Lantos’ oeuvre, the narrative that guides the viewer through non-figuration – was confirmed based on several feedbacks:
even those who are averse to the abstract felt themselves proficient in the world of organic abstract art or geometric abstraction.
