István Kormos, who was born 100 years ago, and his generation – which included the poets Ferenc Juhász, László Nagy, László Lator and András Fodor, the editors Pál Réz and Mátyás Domokos, and the painter Simon Hantai – began their careers at the end of the Second World War. What kind of possibilities were there for the youth of Hungary, then a disintegrated, ruined and devalued country, in terms of its material reality, as well as in the political and cultural sense? How was it possible to cope with the increasingly bleak atmosphere of the post-war years, the stifling atmosphere of the fifties and the reality of the Eastern Bloc cut off from the free world?

The exhibition presents half a century as authentically as possible through the career and oeuvre of István Kormos – the living situations of a generation, the life-saving games, the battles, both private and public, the inhuman challenges of the era, as well as the exciting and vibrant literary life despite the greyness of power.

Curator: museologist Anna Benedek, PLM

Designer: Annamária H. Kocsis, PLM

Graphic design: Andrea Rimanóczy, PLM