Jewish Art in Hungary? A Foreign Affairs Case Study: Lili Ország

This paper examines how Jewish art was treated in Hungary in the 1960s. In this period specifically Jewish subjects did not appear in realism dominated official exhibition venues, while abstract and non-figurative art was only tolerated. The protagonist of the following case study, Lili Ország (1926–1978), an artist of Jewish origin and a Holocaust survivor is considered today to be a determining figure of modern Hungarian art. Her case attests to the dubious attitude of the authorities.

During the first two decades of her career her works were not exhibited due to their non-preferred abstract-symbolistic style, and only a very small circle of collectors and friends knew them. Her first solo exhibition – presenting paintings loaded with Hebrew characters and Jewish symbols – took place in a private gallery in Tel Aviv in 1966 following a six months long authorisation process. It brought her success. A year later, she had an exhibition scheduled in a Hungarian museum, which became a sensitive issue thanks to her earlier trip to Israel and the Six-Day War, which altered the disposition of Hungarian foreign policy.

The research is based on archival materials as well as the artist’s private correspondence. Moreover, as written explanation had consciously been avoided in official communication, essential details could be recollected from oral history interviews. The reconstruction of the two exhibitions’ underlying story highlights the possibilities Jewish art had and allows us to analyse how cultural and foreign policies were intertwined.