Iván Máriási Masznyik (1928–1997) was a painter and a legendary teacher at the Budapest University of Technology’s Department of Design, who ran an extra-curricular course in art history for students who showed an interest. He can also be regarded as a lone forerunner of cultural anthropology in Hungary. As a “pictor doctus” he was able to remain in his original craft, as a painter. - His college mentors were Aurél Bernáth and Róbert Berény. As a young artist in the 1960s, he drew caricatures for the current-affairs and literary journal Élet és Irodalom, and also regularly worked for other periodicals. The exhibition mainly focuses on the cosmos themes of his oeuvre, and we present the oil paintings, the ink drawings, and the tapestry that he created over a long period between 1968 and 1975. It was particularly in this tapestry and the related studies that structure and colour were transformed into a harmonious, elevating world view. His teachings, communicated in his pictures on display here and in his dissertation, speak the languages of sense and consciousness at the same time. The message is nevertheless unmistakeable: recognising the order of the universe – in science and the arts alike – can help humankind to reconnect with its environment.
curator: Mária Kondor-Szilágyi, co-curator: Orsolya Jászi