Victor Vasarely and the Op-Art Movement
Op-art is a lesser-known artistic style, but it is one of the most unusual movements. It challenges not only the eye but also the mind to interpret it. Op-art is short for "optical art". The brilliance of the paintings lies in the fact that the painters usually create an optical illusion on the canvas, with a cavalcade of geometric shapes and colours that give the impression that the patterns are moving and floating.
The beginnings
In this exhibition you can get an insight into the art of Victor Vasarely, the most important Hungarian figure of "op-art". Vasarely was born in Pécs in 1906, and his birth name was Győző Csiszár. Two years later, when he moved to Budapest, his parents changed his name to Győző Vásárhelyi. In 1925, he began attending evening classes at the Semmelweis University. In 1927, he abandoned his medical studies and enrolled in the free school of Artúr Podolini-Volkmann, where he learned the basics of traditional academic painting, a the production of paint, canvas priming and the techniques of nude body drawing.. In 1928, he became a member of the Bortnyik Sándor Workshop where he was introduced to the Bauhaus ideals. The essence of the Bauhaus was to bridge the gap between art and industry. In 1930, Vasarely's early works were introduced in the Museum of Applied Arts' exhibition of Book and Advertising Art. In the 1930s he moved to Paris, where he made his living as a painter and commercial artist.
Throughout his career, Vasarely was guided by this realization; a composition built on the difference of polar visual qualities, the contrast of black and white. His art was originally inspired by surrealism. As an applied graphic designer and an analyst of form, he created the basic type of Zebras in 1938, which he later recreated in several variations. Parallel versions of these works were made in the 1960s, based on early designs. Already in these works, we can observe his later kinetic, geometrical design aspirations.
The op-art
Vasarely began painting in 1941 and started to walk the path of optical and kinetic art around the 1950s. Optical art spread out in the 1950s and was inspired by abstract movements such as Constructivism, also known for its austere visual world, and Futurism. It was precisely at the Paris exhibition Le Mouvement that op-art was launched in conjunction with kinetic art, and it was here that Vasarely was introduced to the movement and the method of kinetic creation. This trend, closely linked to op-art, emphasised the artistic value of the mobility of objects.
Permutations and algorithms
His creative period, beginning in 1951, is known as the "Denfert era", named after a Paris metro station. His first kinetic-optical formations were inspired by the line meshes he observed on the plaster and paintwork of worn walls. It was after his highly successful international exhibition that he formulated his creta of community art, an innovative and technologically groundbreaking concept. He patented his invention of the plastic unit based on the unity of colour and form, which became the basis of his Visual Alphabet. In 1954, he had the opportunity to show once again the eye-catching products of the fusion of kinetic art and architecture in the construction of three monumental mural tasks for the new Caracas University. In addition to kinetic compositions, he also made films and printed serigraphs, which were produced in large numbers but with original painterly qualities. He also made his first graphic albums in the late 1950s.
Vasarely, the master of "op-art"
Vasarely used new techniques and technologies to endlessly diversify and compose his works. These elements could be industrially prefabricated and the resulting monumental works could be installed in buildings and urban environments. This scale of combinatorial possibilities in plastic art offered a universal tool, while allowing for the expression of both personality and ethnic uniqueness. The next breakthrough in his work was his 1961 exhibition with Lajos Kassák, on the occasion of which the Denise René Gallery published the Kassák/Vasarely album. In 1968 he donated a collection of serigraphs to the museum in Pécs, and in 1976 the "Victor Vasarely Museum" was opened in his hometown. The same year saw the opening of the artist's foundation museum in Paris, which became an international workshop of analytical visual experimentation. On 8 May 1987, the second Vasarely Museum opened in Óbuda (Budapest), with 411 works of art and a library of 92 volumes. The artist died in France in 1997, but many of his works made him world famous.
Op-art, although its value as fine art is still debated today, became a dominant feature of design in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, psychologists and brain researchers to this day are fond of taking out their paintings to study the brain function they evoke. Furthermore, geometric, eye-catching designs have had a major impact on pop culture. Without Vasarely and op-art, there would be no pop-art, and the world would not know the names of such outstanding artists as Andy Warhol.
L.G.
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