Vajda Lajos XXI Ikon 1936 1936

Vajda Lajos made this image, XXI Ikon, in 1936. The name and its dark colors suggest a religious subject, and the image is reminiscent of a shrouded Madonna or perhaps a veiled Saint. Lajos was a Hungarian artist who worked in the period between the wars. He would have been aware of the revival of religious art in Europe, as well as a growing interest in spiritualism and the occult. Yet Hungary was also a deeply troubled society, and he would have felt its tensions. By looking into the history of Hungarian avant-garde groups we learn of Lajos's association with the European School, an intellectual group banned in 1948 for their political activism. This image could be interpreted as Lajos using the idea of the sacred to represent the suffering of his people. To understand Lajos's political feelings more fully, we might look at contemporary political pamphlets and newspapers to help us see his work in its context.