According to Localcollegeexplorer, the social and political transformation, which took place after 1945, fundamentally changed the situation of Hungarian art. Neoclassicism and academicism, which can be considered the official art of the Fascist years, are pushed into the background and modern approaches, previously oppressed, prevail. Between 1946 and 1950 the new organizational forms of artistic life (building design institutes, federations of the arts) were established, the teaching staff of higher education was replaced and its spirit changed. After the war destructions, it is the reconstruction that first of all involves the building activity; however, many public buildings, schools and health institutions, research institutes and new sports facilities were soon built, in the spirit of functionalism based on Bauhaus traditions (J. Szendrői, L. Lauber: University of Agricultural Sciences, 1949-51; I. Janáky: University building, 1949; K. Dávid: Népstadion, “People’s Stadium”, 1949- 53; J. Szendrői, A. Lévai: Medical clinic, Budapest, 1949). Industrial construction becomes one of the most dynamic branches of architecture.
At the end of the 1940s, in the panorama of the Hungarian figurative arts, alongside the Gresham group (A. Bernáth, I. Szőnyi, P. Pátzay) that follows the post-impressionist pictorial culture, to some exponents of the generation that already at the beginning of the century was close to the spirit of the École de Paris (Ö. Márffy, B. Czóbel, J. Kmetty), alongside B. Ferenczy, in whose art there are similarities with that of Maillol, and F. Medgyessy, the so-called European School and the Neorealist group. The European School (as we read in one of its publications with the character of ars poetica) represents Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and Surrealism, i.e. essentially it includes all the directions of modern art of which the Szentendre School was the ideal precursor, born in the Thirties, but more precisely it is oriented towards surrealism and constructivism. D. Korniss, E. Bálint, M. Anna can be ascribed to the formal sphere of surrealism, while the main representative of the constructivist tendency is J. Barcsay. The activity of Barcsay and the sculptors of the European School (M. Borsos, T. Vilt) practically leads to a neorealist orientation, whose followers (E. Domanovszky, J. Kerényi, J. Somogyi, A. Beck) in 1948 enunciate the program “Towards the new collective art” and design statues for public spaces, mural works for the community, expressive, full of meaning, integrated with modern architecture. Expressivist realism also characterizes the graphics of the late 1940s (V. Szabó, K. Koffán, L. Bencze). The other branch of the European School, oriented towards non-figurative art, has as its main expression the group gathered around the Gallery “Towards the four cardinal points” (F. Martyn, T. Gyarmathy, T. Lossonczy).
In the 1950s, due to the vulgar interpretation of “socialist realism” which had assumed the commitment of collective art, artistic and social progress for a time found themselves opposed and transiently jumped to the fore academic directions and naturalistic. The greatest fracture appears in the architecture. Classicism, defined as national tradition, becomes a model of the new architecture, which leads to eclecticism and stylization. Industrial development offers great urban planning possibilities (Dunaujváros; chief architect T. Weiner) and, on the other hand, in buildings built between 1951-56, functionality becomes secondary to the archaic, representative formalism. A similar process is also found in painting and sculpture, even if the best of the group that had enunciated the collective art program, they maintain a high quality level. In the 1950s, the so-called Hódmezővásárhely School became an independent address, which draws its theme from peasant life and whose style is characterized by the search for unity between realistic representation and stylization (Gy. Kohán, DI Kurucz, F. Szalay).
Starting from the end of the 1950s, numerous attempts tend to defeat conservative, archaic trends, and, in essence, the current artistic guidelines crystallize. In architecture, the functional concept that corresponds to the building technology and materials is once again at the fore. Urban planning tasks are also carried out in this spirit (construction of the new city center of Salgótariján, starting in 1961, Gy. Jánossy, Gy. Szrogh, G. Magyar, J. Finta; design of the complex of the main square in Szekszárd, K. Jurcsik, L. Varga). Among the public buildings, many educational and cultural institutions (M. Hófer: University of Győr; K. Jurcsik: Orgovány House of Culture; Cs. Bodonyi: hotels; J. Finta: Duna-Interkontinentál in Budapest), office buildings ( Z. Gulyás; F. Bán) exemplify a ‘ architectural activity that takes into consideration the numerous possibilities offered by modern architecture. In industrial construction we observe the expansion of the structuralist conception using the theory of systems, and with new commitment we face urban planning problems (I. Janáky; P. Reimholz; L. Földesi). The modern protection of monuments and the search for unity between the environment in which the monument is located and complementary modern buildings also play an important role (Cs. Virág). In opposition to the technical conception of functionalism, organic tendencies are strengthened, as well as neo-romanticism (J. Makovecz). expansion of the structuralist conception using systems theory, and with a new commitment the urban planning problems are faced (I. Janáky; P. Reimholz; L. Földesi). The modern protection of monuments and the search for unity between the environment in which the monument is located and complementary modern buildings also play an important role (Cs. Virág). In opposition to the technical conception of functionalism, organic tendencies are strengthened, as well as neo-romanticism (J. Makovecz). expansion of the structuralist conception using systems theory, and with a new commitment the urban planning problems are faced (I. Janáky; P. Reimholz; L. Földesi). The modern protection of monuments and the search for unity between the environment in which the monument is located and complementary modern buildings also play an important role (Cs. Virág). In opposition to the technical conception of functionalism, organic tendencies are strengthened, as well as neo-romanticism (J. Makovecz).
In painting and sculpture the change can be seen from the 1960s onwards. The dominance of academic, naturalistic addresses is broken by the symbolic-surrealist art of Béla Kondor (who died in 1972 in tragic circumstances) around which young graphic designers sensitive to new directions are grouped (Gy. Feledy, G. Pásztor, A. Gross). The activity of the artists belonging to the former European School is also renewed, including E. Bálint, whose works are characterized by the associative-surrealist representation and D. Korniss, who approaches the poetics of the hard edge. J. Barcsay in the 1960s creates a series of monumental wall mosaics with a constructivist spirit. The most outstanding personalities of the new generation are P. Deim who amalgamates the most significant ways of the Szentendre School with pure constructivism, L. Ország who highlights the profound historical and psychic dimensions and I. Keserü lyric abstractionist. Neoconstructivism is strengthened (J. Fajó, I. Bak, T. Csiky, I. Nádler), fueled on the one hand by the art of Lajos Kassák – who resumed his creative activity in old age – and, on the other, by ‘ op art by V. Vasarely of Hungarian origin. At the beginning of the seventies, the works of the younger generation are influenced by numerous addresses of the neo-avant-garde, starting with the happening (M. Erdélyi), up to conceptual art (D. Maurer, J. Major, Gy. Pauer) and the neodada. Apart from this, it can be considered a type of art which is linked to neo-primitive addresses (V. Berky, T. Galambos), and which has notable representatives also in sculpture (P. Kő, G. Samu). In this field, until the mid-1960s, the predominance of the classical address was contrasted only by expressivist-monumental formal modes of representation (J. Kerényi, J. Somogyi), but later new trends also appeared. Thus, E. Schaár’s series of figurative spatial compositions (Utca) also uses elements of pop art and stage effects. Alongside this artist, T. Vilt renews the formal language of Hungarian plastics, which runs through the different directions of modern plastics, and the younger generation (I. Varga, T. Vigh, M. Melocco), bringing a new tone also to the projects urban and monumental. Representatives of kinetic art are Gy. Z. Gách and S. Haraszti. Among the branches of craftsmanship, ceramics stand out at an international level, close to non-figurative plastics, especially building ceramics (I. Gádor, I. Schrammer) and the art of upholstery with many prominent personalities (M. Szilvitzky, Zs. Szenes, G. Attalai); while the design is enhanced almost exclusively on an experimental level.
