Czigány, Dezső - Still-life with Apples and Plate (1910)

The Eight (''A Nyolcak'' in

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...

) was an

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

art movement of Hungarian painters active mostly in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

from 1909 to 1918. They were connected to

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

and radical movements in literature and music as well, and led to the rise of modernism in art culture. The members of The Eight,

Róbert Berény Róbert Berény (18 March 1887 – 10 September 1953) was a Hungarian painter, one of the ''avant-garde'' group known as The Eight who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art in the early twentieth century before the First World W ...

Dezső Czigány Dezső Czigány (1 June 1883 – 31 December 1937) was a Hungarian painter who was born and died in Budapest. He was one of The Eight (1909–1918), who first exhibited under that name in Budapest in 1911 and were influential in introducing cubi ...

, Béla Czóbel,

Károly Kernstok Károly Kernstok (23 December 1873, in Budapest – 9 June 1940, in Budapest) is a Hungarian painter. In the early twentieth century, he was known for being among the leading groups of Hungarian painters known as the "Neos" and The Eight (190 ...

Ödön Márffy Ödön Márffy (30 November 1878 – 3 December 1959) was a Hungarian painter, one of The Eight in Budapest, credited with bringing cubism, Fauvism and expressionism to the country. Biography Following a short basic training, he obtained a g ...

, Dezső Orbán,

Bertalan Pór Bertalan Pór (4 November 1880 – 28 August 1964) was a Hungarian painter associated with the development of modernist Hungarian art. He was a member of The Eight, a movement among several Hungarian painters in the early twentieth century who ...

and

Lajos Tihanyi Lajos Tihanyi (29 October 1885 – 11 June 1938) was a Hungarian painter and lithographer who achieved international renown working outside his country, primarily in Paris, France. After emigrating in 1919, he never returned to Hungary, even on a ...

, were primarily inspired by French painters and art movements including

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

, and Fauvism. Exhibits were held in 2011 and 2012 in Hungary and Austria, respectively, to mark the centenary of the group's first exhibit as The Eight in Budapest in 1911.

Background

The Eight opened their first exhibition on 30 December 1909 at the Könyves Kálmán Salon (Budapest) under the title ''New Pictures.'' Their second exhibition, entitled ''The Eight,'' opened in April 1911 in the National Salon. While The Eight as a group had only three exhibitions, their activity was of immense significance, as their influence went far beyond the visual arts. The exhibitions were accompanied by series of symposia, and by events featuring new Hungarian literature and contemporary music. Márffy was proud of this intellectual kinship throughout his life. A year before his death, he said:

"It fills me with happiness to know that my youth coincided with that memorable period in intellectual development, when not only in Europe but also in Hungary, those seeking new, better things in literature, music, painting, science, politics and social life were carried by vibrant, seething currents. It can’t have been by chance that Endre Ady broke in with his new songs at the time when Béla Bartók came with his new chords, when progressive intellectuals gathered round reviews like "Nyugat" (Occident) and "XX. Század" (20th century), when 'Nyolcak' (the Eight), a group that sought new ways appeared (…)"

Exhibits

*''A Nyolcak (The Eight): A Centenary Exhibition,'' Janus Pannonius Museum Modern Hungarian Gallery,

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

, 10 December 2010 – 27 March 2011 * 2012, ''Lajos Tihanyi - A bohème painter in Budapest, Berlin and Paris'', 20 April - 20 August 2012, KOGART Haz, Budapest * 2012, ''The Eight. Hungary's Highway in the Modern'' (Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne), 12 September 2012 – 2 December 2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum,

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, collaboration with Museum of Fine Arts and Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest. * 2013, ''Allegro Barbaro. Béla Bartók et la modernité hongroise (1905-1920).'' Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 15 October 2013. - 5 January 2014.

References

External links

"Wanted works"
''Art Magazin''
''A Nyolcak (The Eight): Commemorative exhibition,'' 2011, Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (virtual tour)

Vienna, Kunstforum: ''Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne,'' 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eight, The Modern art Hungarian art 20th-century Hungarian painters

Background

Exhibits

References

Further reading

External links