Communicating “space and form?”: The history and impact of the journal Tér és Forma as the Hungarian pipeline of Modernism

Pál Ritoók; Ágnes Anna Sebestyén

doi:10.52200/59.A.YXTYK1Q6

Authors

Pál Ritoók Hungarian Museum of Architecture
Ágnes Anna Sebestyén Hungarian Museum of Architecture

Downloads

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/59.A.YXTYK1Q6

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing

Abstract

In the interwar era, architectural journals were at the forefront of professional attention and had the power to disseminate the Modern Movement in architecture globally. The Hungarian journal Tér és Forma (1928-1948) took the lead to introduce international modern architecture to the Hungarian public, while continually reporting on the newest building projects in interwar Hungary. Virgil Bierbauer, the periodical’s long-time editor (1928-1942), presented the broad panorama of contemporary architecture and his followers from 1943 intended to continue his legacy even in wartime. The impact of the periodical did not halt at its cessation in 1948 but, directly as well as indirectly, continued to define 20th century architectural historiography in Hungary.

How to Cite

Ritoók, P., & Sebestyén, Ágnes A. (2018). Communicating “space and form?”: The history and impact of the journal Tér és Forma as the Hungarian pipeline of Modernism. Docomomo Journal, (59), 18–25. https://doi.org/10.52200/59.A.YXTYK1Q6

Published

2018-11-01

Issue

No. 59 (2018): An Eastern Europe Vision

Section

Essays

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Plaudit

Author Biographies

Pál Ritoók, Hungarian Museum of Architecture

(b. Hungary, 1961). Art historian (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1987). Since 1987 he has been curator at the Hungarian Museum of Architecture. He has published various articles, contributed to catalogues and curated exhibitions in the field of 19th and 20th century Hungarian architecture. He is the chief editor of the six volume popular series Architecture of Hungary (2001–2004; second, revised edition, 2016–2017). He was one of the curators of the exhibition Light and Form: Modern Architecture and Photography 1927–1950 presented in Budapest in 2003, later in Helsinki, Rotterdam, Vienna, Dessau, Wroclaw, Győr and Pécs. Between 2015 and 2017, he was vice-president of the Forster Gyula National Centre for Cultural Heritage Management.

Ágnes Anna Sebestyén, Hungarian Museum of Architecture

(b. Hungary, 1987). Art historian (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2013; guest student at Leiden University, 2011). Since 2015, she has been working at the Hungarian Museum of Architecture. She has curatorial experience in 20th century architectural history. She has research expertise in the history of modern architecture, architectural photography and cultural mediation. Her current research focuses on the editorial activities of the architect Virgil Bierbauer and his role in international architectural transfers.

References

BAUDIN, Antoine (ed.), Photography, Modern Architecture and Design: The Alberto Sartoris Collection – Objects from the Vitra Design Museum, Lausanne, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Press in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, 2005.

BLAU, Eve, PLATZER, Monika (ed.), Shaping the Great City: Modern Architecture in Central Europe, 1890–1937, Munich–London–New York, Prestel Verlag, 1999.

PLANK, Ibolya, HAJDÚ, Virág, RITOÓK, Pál, Fény és Forma: Modern építészet és fotó 1927–1950 / Light and Form: Modern Architecture and Photography 1927–1950, Budapest, Kulturális Örökségvédelmi Hivatal, 2003; 2nd edition, Budapest, Vince Kiadó, 2010.

FERKAI, András, “Hungarian Architecture between the Wars”, in WIEBENSON, Dora, SISA, József (ed.), The Architecture of Historic Hungary, Cambridge, Mass.–London, England, The MIT Press, 1998, 245–274.

MERÈNYI, Ferenc, 1867–1965, cento anni architettura ungherese: Appunti per una storia dell’architettura contemporanea Ungherese, Roma, Accademia di Ungheria Roma, 1965.

SABATINO, Michelangelo, “Space of Criticism: Exhibitions and the Vernacular in Italian Modernism”, Journal of Architectural Education, n. 3, 2009, 35–52.

SABATINO, Michelangelo, “Documenting Rural Architecture, by Giuseppe Pagano”, Journal of Architectural Education, n. 2, 2010, 92–98.

SEBESTYÈN, Ágnes Anna, “Strategy and Agency in Architectural Photographs: Imaging Strategies that Shaped an Architectural Magazine in Interwar Hungary”, in ALCOLEA, Rubén A., MINGO, Jorge Tárrago (ed.), Inter Photo Arch, Congreso Internacional, inter-fotografía y arquitectura: interpretaciones; Inter Photo Arch, International Conference, inter-photography and architecture: interpretations, Pamplona, Universidad de Navarra, 2016, 178–189.

SEBESTYÈN, Ágnes Anna, “Architectural Photographs as Agents of Travel and Information: Virgil Bierbauer’s Travels to Circulate Visual Information in the Architectural Press in Interwar Hungary”, Revelar, vol. 2, novembro 2017, 104–122.