Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2E, Shelf DR109

Transylvania

Poster
1988 (designed and printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The empty Bible binding with a bookmark in the Romanian national colours refers to the violation of the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Transylvania. This included the destruction of old Hungarian villages in the interest of forced development and extremely low living standard in the region.

In his book 'United Colors of Hungary' Péter Pócs tells the story of this poster which was commissioned by the Young Artists' Club to advertise an aid concert. "Since its topic was sensitive both from a domestic and foreign policy point of view I had to show the poster to the Minister of Culture, who was Béla Köpeczi at that time, in order to get permission. Although the big-size colour slide was not submitted directly by me, I could see from the next room, I could peep at his positive reaction to my concept. He testified it in a very special way. Getting up from the floor he made small gambolling movements. Although he did not utter a word, his peculiar, somehow familiar movements had a calming effect on me. I myself expressed the joy of lucky hits and cathartic moments in the same way - although not publicly. The poster was printed in several thousand copies and sold in order to transfer the income to help the Transylvanians. In 1989, during the Romanian revolution the town of Kecskemét published the poster again in 2000 copies aiming to increase the aid parcels and money contributions..."


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Transylvania (generic title)
  • Pro-democracy Poster Collection (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Colour offset lithograph printed on paper
Brief description
Poster by Peter Pocs from the Pro-democracy Poster Collection. Hungary, 1989-1990.
Physical description
Poster
Dimensions
  • Height: 67.9cm
  • Width: 98.4cm
Credit line
Given by Mücsarnok, Budapest, through Krisztina Jerger
Summary
The empty Bible binding with a bookmark in the Romanian national colours refers to the violation of the rights of the Hungarian minority living in Transylvania. This included the destruction of old Hungarian villages in the interest of forced development and extremely low living standard in the region.

In his book 'United Colors of Hungary' Péter Pócs tells the story of this poster which was commissioned by the Young Artists' Club to advertise an aid concert. "Since its topic was sensitive both from a domestic and foreign policy point of view I had to show the poster to the Minister of Culture, who was Béla Köpeczi at that time, in order to get permission. Although the big-size colour slide was not submitted directly by me, I could see from the next room, I could peep at his positive reaction to my concept. He testified it in a very special way. Getting up from the floor he made small gambolling movements. Although he did not utter a word, his peculiar, somehow familiar movements had a calming effect on me. I myself expressed the joy of lucky hits and cathartic moments in the same way - although not publicly. The poster was printed in several thousand copies and sold in order to transfer the income to help the Transylvanians. In 1989, during the Romanian revolution the town of Kecskemét published the poster again in 2000 copies aiming to increase the aid parcels and money contributions..."
Collection
Accession number
E.147-1991

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdMarch 2, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSON