The Theory of Hungarian Constructivism

Abstract

Hungarian Constructivism developed in exile after the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919). Though an integral part of Russian and international Constructivism, the Hungarian Constructivists, the painter Lajos Kassák and the critic Ernst Kállai, did not see Constructivism as the ultimate form of art. Their analysis of history from the point of view of dialectical materialism led to the trinity of technology, art, Communism — an idea that provided the theoretical basis for the belief that Constructivism was necessarily the art of the new Communist society. At the same time, both Communism and Constructivism were not an end in themselves, but opened the way for further historical, social, and artistic change.

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Esther Levinger

Esther Levinger's previous publications have focused on the Hungarian avant-garde and Lissitzky. Her current research is on international Constructivism. [Department of Art History, Haifa University, Haifa 31999, Israel]