Victor Vasarely in the Echo

For the first time in many years, the exhibition Victor Vasarely in the Echo offers the Slovenian public a more comprehensive overview of the work of this outstanding Hungarian-French artist. Additionally, it provides insight into the local and regional arena and shows the reception of ideas co-created and advocated by Vasarely. It presents a diverse selection of works by Slovenian and Croatian artists and (graphic) designers who were connected to Vasarely in different ways, even knew him personally or just had a shared interest in similar artistic themes.

Victor Vasarely is an artist who hardly needs any special introduction. On the one hand, he left a mark on art history with the specific visual impression created by the works of his unmistakable Op Art language, the works from the famous series Black and White (Noir et Blanc), Vega, Vonal and others. Equally important, however, are his reflections and strong, even utopian views on art, the status of the artwork and the role of the artist, which he developed under the influence of the avant-garde movements he encountered in his early years in Hungary. Throughout his life, he advocated for the democratisation of art and defended the idea of art that is accessible to all. He also put these viewpoints into practice and implemented the idea of the multiplied art object, the multiple. On the other hand, he devoted himself to applying his artistic ideas to architectural and even urban planning solutions in which art would literally be accessible to everyone. He argued in favour of a synthesis of art – visual and applied – as art is supposed to serve a practical purpose. But he also envisioned art as something anyone could create. To this end, he developed a kind of “visual alphabet” consisting of colours and shapes enabling anyone, even a “layperson”, to construct artworks. The exhibition at the International Centre of Graphic Arts features some of the best-known works from his mature period, when he reached the height of his fame, particularly with optical illusions. The display includes a selection of canvases, publications and objects, with a focus on his silkscreen production, for which he was honoured with the Grand Prix at the 6th International Exhibition of Graphic Arts in 1965.

Similar social concepts of art to those of Vasarely guided artists in Zagreb. This city, well-connected to the (Western) world in terms of art after the Second World War, was recognised as one of the centres of rationalist art. Vasarely visited Zagreb, collaborated with Croatian artists and even produced two art publications there – an issue of the newspaper a (1963), edited by Ivan Picelj, and the fourth issue of the anti-newspaper Gorgona (1961), both of which are presented in the present exhibition.

A distinctive phenomenon developed within Zagreb’s artistic milieu, known as the Zagreb school of screenprinting. This loosely connected group of artists explored various forms of geometric abstraction and related art movements while focusing intensively on screenprinting. Among its representatives, three should be highlighted, Ivan Picelj, Vjenceslav Richter and Miroslav Šutej, who maintained close ties to Ljubljana as regular participants of the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts.

Rationalist art was not as popular in Slovenia as it was in Croatia, but this does not mean that some of the artists did not go on to develop outstanding works in this field. Drago Hrvacki is represented in the exhibition with a selection of prints from the collection of the International Centre of Graphic Arts, two interesting monochrome reliefs from the 1960s and a characteristic colourful freestanding object from the 1970s. After a creative hiatus in the early 1970s, Danilo Jejčič turned to geometric abstraction, to which he has remained faithful ever since. Particularly noteworthy are two screenprints in which he pays homage to Victor Vasarely. Josip Gorinšek, who is primarily known as a painter, is represented with two screenprints from 1983. Gorinšek also utilised his art knowledge in numerous collaborations with Slovenian companies, for which he produced numerous graphic images. The Trieste artist Sandi Renko, who lived and worked in Padua from the early 1970s, one of the centres of the development of the very rich (northern) Italian geometric abstract art, was also intensively involved with design and links to industry.

Vasarely’s interest in visual design, architecture and public space, as well as the influences of the Bauhaus school, are interwoven with the phenomenon of the so-called B Course, which was introduced at the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (FAGG) in Ljubljana in the early 1960s under the direction of Professor Edvard Ravnikar. The exhibition presents a selection of student products from this study programme, which bear striking visual resemblance to Victor Vasarely’s explorations. In this way, they complete the project of the exhibition and accompanying catalogue, which aims to elucidate the interesting interlacements of the lives and art careers of the sometimes more, sometimes less obviously connected artists from various areas of visual culture.

Victor Vasarely (1906–1997)

The internationally renown printmaker, painter and sculptor of Hungarian French descent, is known as the father of the international Op Art movement. After dropping out of medical school, he attended the Hungarian equivalent of the German Bauhaus, the Műhely Academy in Budapest, studying under the guidance of artist Sándor Bortnyk from 1929 to 1930. After graduating, he settled in Paris, where he initially worked as a creative consultant in advertising agencies. He spent the majority of his art career in France. The acquaintance that had a decisive influence on his life was that of gallerist Denise René. He was involved in the founding of the Galerie Denise René in Paris, where he held his first exhibition in France in 1944 entitled Vasarely’s Drawings and Graphic Compositions (Les dessins et compositions de Vasarely). In 1955, he exhibited at the Galerie Denise René together with some of the biggest names in kinetic art, such as Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder and Man Ray, in the first major international exhibition of kinetic art, Movement (Mouvement). That year, he published his Yellow Manifesto (Manifesto Jaune) on a yellow sheet of paper in the exhibition catalogue, in which he explained his artistic philosophy. This won him the Critics’ Prize in Brussels and the gold medal at the Triennale in Milan. His international recognition as a leading figure in the Op Art movement was finally solidified by the exhibition The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1965. He held more than 150 solo exhibitions worldwide and received numerous prestigious awards for his work. Among his accolades, he was honoured with the Guggenheim International Prize (New York, 1964), the Grand Prize at the 8th São Paulo Biennial (1965) and the Grand Prix at the 6th International Exhibition of Graphic Arts (1965). In 1976, he established the Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en-Provence, France, and in the same year, the Vasarely Múzeum was inaugurated in the artist’s hometown of Pécs, Hungary. 

The works of Victor Vasarely in dialogue with: Jože Brumen, Josip Gorinšek, Drago Hrvacki, Danilo Jejčič, Ivan Picelj, Sandi Renko, Vjenceslav Richter, Miroslav Šutej

B Course student works (1960–1962): Marjana Butala, Jure Kleindienst, Majda Kregar, Vesna Lampret, Janez Marinšek, Saša J. Mächtig, Nastja Okrožnik, Jana Omersa, Tonči Paviškov, Franc Popek, Jože Piber, Alojz Šoster, Anica Vidmar