Budapest Poster Gallery

2nd auction | posters and poster designs

126 x 95 cm. Fine.

The poster of Marcell Vértes was one of the most vigorous political posters of the time which made a strong emotional impact.
Major General Géza Lukacsics is mostly remembered nowadays by historians for his successes reached on the Italian front during the First World War. In the first battle of Isonzo (1915) his troops were the ones who defended Doberdó-highland, and later on the San Michele high ground. The effective defence of his troops played a big role in making the Italians regress to the line of the Piave by 1917 (Caparetto breakthrough). He returned home in 1918 and became the commander of Budapest from the 26th of October: he defended the – nearly existing, or nearly non-existing – peace with the means of unmerciful terror.
He was arrested by the National Board founded during the Chrysanthemum Revolution on the 30th of October, thus saving his life from the wrath of the nation.
The poster of Vértes demands justice in the name of the victims of the Lukacsics terror. The execution scene is inspired by the classic and famous painting of Goya (3rd of May, 1808). However, on Vértes’ poster the empathy is not felt for the one being executed, but for his family. There is only one word on the poster, appearing as a graffiti, which perfectly sums up the message: “Lukacsics!”. The black and white picture presents a desolate world, in which the red text implies it was written with blood, is almost strident.
Marcell Vértes became world famous in the 1920s for his illustrations, drawings, files, satiric newspaper illustrations and light erotic pictures published in Paris. His political posters appeared in Hungary after World War I, which are very memorable pieces, such as ‘With me or against me’ or ‘In the name of his majesty, the King’ and ‘Lukacsics’. These posters are common in that all of them raise the question of responsibility: they blame the leadership for the mass violence.
Designing revolutionary posters was enough reason for Vértes for having to flee after 1919, and this brought him the opportunity of international success.
(Anikó Katona)