Gábor Attalai was one of the most significant artists of his generation in the early 1960s in Hungary. After graduating from the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts in 1958, while he was loosely related to the so-called Zugló Circle, he created abstract paintings influenced by the Parisian School, and very early on in his career, he became a key figure in Hungarian textile art.
In 1968, he organised the exhibition Textil falikép ‘68 [Textile Wall Picture ‘68] at the Ernst Museum. His felt sculptures and spatial textile pieces were often linked to the international trends of minimal art, frequently evoking folk art traditions as well. In the second half of the 1960s, Attalai confronted the “dematerialisation” of art, while his conceptual work, saturated with political references — unfolding parallel to his “official” textile pieces — became increasingly significant. He created works linked to body art, land art, mail art and project art, environments, photographic works, collages, textual pieces and so-called red-y mades. The exhibition at Dubniczay Palace — as well as the accompanying catalogue — presents a selection of Attalai’s conceptual pieces. These artworks helped Attalai become a member of international networks at an early stage.
“My generation was operating towards the West,” – claimed Attalai, who entered the artistic circuits of the period via post, sending his conceptual works in envelopes to fellow artists in the West, requesting information on the state of contemporary art, corresponding with artists such as Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, John Chamberlain, Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, Carolee Schneemann, Sol LeWitt, Christo, Hanne Darboven, Richard Long, John Baldessari, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Eva Hesse, Gilbert & George, Anthony Caro, Robert Filliou, Claude Viallat, Joseph Kosuth and Dennis Oppenheim. The responses of these artists are represented in Attalai’s archives, and, every so often, he would also receive publications, booklets and artworks from them. He also got into contact with influential curators such as Harald Szeemann. Attalai’s work as an art writer was also outstanding, publishing highly important theoretical texts on the changing concept of art, aiding the theoretical and historical contextualisation of his work.
Since the second half of the 1980s, Attalai gradually withdrew from the local and international art scene, and his oeuvre is now waiting to be rediscovered. Through the presentation of certain segments of Attalai’s work, revelatory insights can be gained, not only from an art-historical perspective on the “long 1960s,” but also from a viewpoint that goes beyond the simplistic division of “promoted, tolerated and banned” phenomena, exploring the global flow of information and the general way networking functions. It is possible to acquire a clearer picture of the history of Hungarian and East-Central European art in the 1960s and 1970s by examining Attalai’s oeuvre, which was present in various (official and unofficial) public spheres and helped establish an extensive international network.
In 1968, he organised the exhibition Textil falikép ‘68 [Textile Wall Picture ‘68] at the Ernst Museum. His felt sculptures and spatial textile pieces were often linked to the international trends of minimal art, frequently evoking folk art traditions as well. In the second half of the 1960s, Attalai confronted the “dematerialisation” of art, while his conceptual work, saturated with political references — unfolding parallel to his “official” textile pieces — became increasingly significant. He created works linked to body art, land art, mail art and project art, environments, photographic works, collages, textual pieces and so-called red-y mades. The exhibition at Dubniczay Palace — as well as the accompanying catalogue — presents a selection of Attalai’s conceptual pieces. These artworks helped Attalai become a member of international networks at an early stage.
“My generation was operating towards the West,” – claimed Attalai, who entered the artistic circuits of the period via post, sending his conceptual works in envelopes to fellow artists in the West, requesting information on the state of contemporary art, corresponding with artists such as Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, John Chamberlain, Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, Carolee Schneemann, Sol LeWitt, Christo, Hanne Darboven, Richard Long, John Baldessari, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Eva Hesse, Gilbert & George, Anthony Caro, Robert Filliou, Claude Viallat, Joseph Kosuth and Dennis Oppenheim. The responses of these artists are represented in Attalai’s archives, and, every so often, he would also receive publications, booklets and artworks from them. He also got into contact with influential curators such as Harald Szeemann. Attalai’s work as an art writer was also outstanding, publishing highly important theoretical texts on the changing concept of art, aiding the theoretical and historical contextualisation of his work.
Since the second half of the 1980s, Attalai gradually withdrew from the local and international art scene, and his oeuvre is now waiting to be rediscovered. Through the presentation of certain segments of Attalai’s work, revelatory insights can be gained, not only from an art-historical perspective on the “long 1960s,” but also from a viewpoint that goes beyond the simplistic division of “promoted, tolerated and banned” phenomena, exploring the global flow of information and the general way networking functions. It is possible to acquire a clearer picture of the history of Hungarian and East-Central European art in the 1960s and 1970s by examining Attalai’s oeuvre, which was present in various (official and unofficial) public spheres and helped establish an extensive international network.
Curator: Dávid Fehér
The exhibition is supported by the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture programme and Vintage Gallery.
