Books

 

Below are some examples of the important books about Hungarian poster art. Unfortunately most of them are only available in Hungarian, however, there are a few exceptions.   

 

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1. 10 x 10 Years on the Street - The History of Hungarian Poster Art (2007) Bakos, Katalin: 10 x 10 év az utcán - A magyar plakátművészet története 

 

 

This is the most important book about Hungarian poster art to date. It was written by Katalin Bakos, who is the most prominent expert of the subject. The book consists of 10 chapters - one for each decade. There are various colour reproductions in it, and a great number of important posters are mentioned in the text. No translations have been made so far, but still a must have for anyone interested in Hungarian posters.

 

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2. The Hungarian Poster is 100+1 Years Old  (1986) 100 + 1 éves a magyar plakát

 

 

This remarkable exhibition catalogue was published in 1986, for the huge exhibition, which was an overview of a century of Hungarian poster design. The exhibition itself was organized by Katalin Bakos, and György Kemény (an important poster artist). The catalogue discusses Hungarian poster history in three parts: 1885-1919, 1920-1944, 1945-1986. For each part there is an essay in Hungarian and English as well. The catalugue includes a vast number of reproductions, some color, some balck and white. A very important literature.   

 

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3. The Hungarian Poster (1986) Szántó Tibor: A magyar plakát

 

 

The book starts with a short essay, and then huge number of mostly black and white reproductions follow.  It covers the years from 1885 to 1981. Only in Hungarian.  

 

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4. The Hungarian Poster (2006)  A magyar plakát 1885 -2005

 

 

This album was published a few years ago. It has full page color reproductions of numerous examples of Hungarian poster art, and a very short and substantially less important text. There are a lot of classic posters reproduced in the book. Basically it's a good literaure to have, but not a must since the selection is far from impeccable. Only in Hungarian.  

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5. The Modern Commercial Poster in Hungary 1924-1942 (2009)

 

 

This incredible exhibition catalogue was published for an exhibition of modernist Hungarian posters between 1924 and 1942, in Valencia. It includes full page color reproductions of more than a 100 moderinst posters and some interesting photos from the 1920s and 1930s related to the subject. The text is in three languages: English, Hungarian and Spanish.  

 

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6. Contemporary Hungarian Poster (1986) A mai magyar plakát

 

 

This book mostly deals with posters from the 1970s and 1980s, and is a decent selection of the last great decade of Hungarian poster art. It features every important artist in alphabetical order, who was still active at the time of its publication, and presents color reproductions of some of their best recent works. It begins with an essay on the history of Hungarian poster art. The book is bilingual (English, Hungarian).