Memories #3 

Maria Bozoky made this print, titled "Memories #3", at an unknown date. The figures here appear ghostly, emerging from layers of ink on the page. Bozoky lived through extraordinary political change in her native Hungary. Born just before World War One, she lived through the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rise of fascism, Soviet domination, and, finally, Hungary’s transition to liberal democracy after 1989. Yet, the images she created often depicted intimate scenes rather than social realism or blatant political commentary. We might ask, what is the relationship between the two? The print may speak to the trauma of war and displacement, or it may be a commentary on traditional social structures. As art historians, it is our role to piece together the context and meaning of works like this. Through careful research of artists’ biographies, alongside studies of the social history of their time, we can better understand how art reflects and shapes the world around it.