József Jakovits (1909-1994)

Visual artist. Jakovits became a self-taught sculptor in the 1940s. In 1945 he married Júlia Vajda and exhibited with the European School, an artist group with the aim to establish connections between East-Central European and Western European art. His early portraits and genre figures were followed by open form, abstract sculptures that originated in natural structures, and he created drawings, linocut and silkscreen prints, and photomontages as well. He started painting after emigrating to New York in 1965 and created his American Wallpapers collage series during this period. The significance of his art only began to be recognized by the public at the end of his life, when his works were presented at György Galántai’s Chapel Studio in Balatonboglár, among others. The exhibition entitled Exposition. Photo/art, held in 1976 at the Lajos Hatvany Museum (Hatvan) included four of his photo montages, his first solo exhibition in Hungary was also held there in 1980.