Földvári Books

Archipenko Thematic Number

Kassák, Lajos (editor)

MA. Aktivista folyóirat. (Archipenko-szám. VI. évfolyam. 6. szám.) [TODAY. Activist Periodical. (Archipenko-number. 6th Year, No. 6.)]

Wien (Vienna): Fritz Brügel (Ebmühl), April 25, 1921. The Archipenko thematic number. Vienna edition. Text in Hungarian. The deputy editors of this issue were Béla Uitz and Sándor Barta, the representative in Germany: László Moholy-Nagy. Title printed in red and black. With a reproduction of Archipenko’s drawing. (1), 70–84 p. Artistically restored at folding. Otherwise in fine condition.

“MA” was the second avant-garde periodical edited by Lajos Kassák, the chief figure of the Hungarian avant-garde movement, who gathered the most outstanding artists around his magazines. Kassák’s previous activist magazine “A Tett” (The Act) was banned by the authorities in 1916, due to it’s pacifism. Two months later the first issue of “MA” was published, edited with the same ideology and ambitious content but in a different format and with more emphasis on the international trends of the modern movements. After the fall of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, Kassák and his associates at “MA” emigrated to Vienna, where they continued to publish the magazine. The format changed again, the typography of each pages became better designed and the title pages more spectacular with the reproductions of works by the eminent Hungarian (e.g. László Moholy-Nagy, Sándor Bortnyik, Farkas Molnár) and – more and more often – international artists like Marc Chagall, Theo van Doesburg, El Lissitzky, Georg Grosz or Alexander Archipenko. From time to time “MA” appeared with a thematic number, like this issue, dedicated to Archipenko the Ukrainian-Soviet avant-garde sculptor and graphic artist. This number of “MA” reproduced fourteen works by him, quotes Blaise Cendrars’ poem written for Archipenko and Ivan Goll’s essay about the artist. Beside the writings related to Archipenko this issue contains a poem by Theo van Doesburg (under the pseudonym I. K. Bonset), a short novel by the dadaist Franz Jung and writings by Kassák, Sándor Barta and other Hungarian artists.

Price: €10,000.00