ROZSDA110 – Turbulent

EXHIBITION OPENING
VÁRFOK GALLERY
1012 Budapest, Várfok u. 11.
Thursday, 25th. May, 2023 from 18.30 to 20.30

“Having a title is not something that is given to everyone. However, Endre Rozsda has a title. He was the first Hungarian surrealist. A great unknown of Hungarian art history. Breton’s friend, the best Hungarian teacher of Picasso’s partner, Gilot. Rozsda, whose life was changed after seeing Bartók’s hand at work. The European School, Max Ernst, Paris, our Parisian man”.– These were the words with which writer Péter Esterházy opened Endre Rozsda’s first exhibition at the Várfok Gallery in 1999. The exhibition was followed in later years by major retrospectives organised by the Várfok Gallery, including large scale exhibitions at the Hungarian National Gallery and at the Jardin Luxembourg Orangerie du Sénat in Paris.

The presence and significance of Endre Rozsda [1913, Mohács/H – 1999, Paris/F], who was born in Hungary yet spent most of his life in Paris, is undeniable in relation to the course of C20 art history. Rozsda became one of the members of the post-war progressive group of Hungarian artists and theorists called the European School as well as being a member of the private circle of André Breton and other surrealists. He participated in several outstanding group exhibitions in Cologne, Munich and Paris, focusing on the concepts and origins of surrealism.

Awarded the Copley prize in 1964 by a renowned jury, including such figures as Hans Arp, Max Ernst, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, from 1976 onwards Rozsda lived and worked in the legendary Bateau‐Lavoir until his death in 1999. In 1987 he was honoured with the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and, in 1998, with the Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic. His artworks enrich not only prestigious private collections but also collections of numerous leading museums including the Parisian Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, as well as the Hungarian National Gallery and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest.

On the 110th anniversary of Endre Rozsda’s birth, the Várfok Gallery wishes to pay tribute to the artist’s memory and his impressively rich oeuvre with a large-scale celebratory exhibition. For this occasion, a diverse group of works of art will come from Paris, which will be seen by the public for the first time in Hungary. The exhibition will be complemented by works on loan from private collections.

The works evoke Rozsda’s kaleidoscope-like painting style in which time and space merge into themselves, appearing as ornamental fabric structures densely interwoven by motifs. Furthermore, paintings that combine abstract forms with figurative details such as faces and self-portraits will also play an important role in the exhibition.

Contemporary Music and Visual Arts – Joint production of the House of Music and the Várfok Gallery on the Day of Hungarian Music:

When the young Endre Rozsda was exploring his own artistic path, one of the most significant inspirations for him was the work of Béla Bartók. And so, the Várfok Gallery has asked four contemporary composers, Máté Balogh, Marcell Dargay, Balázs Horváth and Péter Tornyai, to write new works which reflect upon Rozsda’s art. The pieces will be performed on the 30th. May, 2023 at the Hungarian House of Music in a concert to be followed by a discussion. An interactive audiovisual installation inspired by Rozsda’s iconic work, ’The Castle of the Bluebeard Prince’, will be created in the Sound Dome. For this special occasion, the painting will be one of those sent from Paris and will be on display in the celebratory exhibition at the Várfok Gallery.

This exhibition is sponsored by the National Cultural Fund.