ÁGNES LUKÁCS

introduction

INTRODUCTION

This website is the first information platform on the work of Ágnes Lukács. It commemorates the work of the Jewish artist, born in Budapest in 1920, which has so far been under-recognised in art history.

Ágnes Lukács studied at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts from 1939 to 1944 and was then a prisoner and forced labourer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Groß-Rosen and Neuengamme concentration camps near Hamburg. On 14 April 1945, she was liberated by the US Army in the Salzwedel satellite camp.

For several decades after the war, Lukács repeatedly explored her memories of the concentration camps artistically, alongside other works. She shows us images of female solidarity in a system of violence, feminist works of friendship and closeness.

In her work, as historian Christiane Heß puts it, Ágnes Lukács repeatedly uses the motif of the group as well as the means of cropping, thus "condensing the visual narratives of forced labour, selection, hunger, violence and death". The image motif "Összebújva" ("Close together"), a group of women standing close together, huddled together and offering comfort, was frequently published.

As part of his research, the artist Burkhard Schittny became acquainted with the works of Ágnes Lukács at the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial near Hamburg. He subsequently developed his own work in dialogue with the work of the artist and former forced labourer: the 60-minute film "Dignity - Tribute to Ágnes Lukács (Edit 2)", a commissioned work for the Goethe-Institut Belgrade, which was later shown at the travelling exhibition "Missing Stories. Forced Labour Under Nazi Occupation. An Artistic Approach" on the Balkan Peninsula and in Germany.

EXHIBITIONS

Fascinated by this unique work reflecting the Nazi era, Schittny succeeded in acquiring the largest coherent collection of works by Ágnes Lukács.

His aim is to help her work to be appropriately recognised and to protect it from being forgotten. The exhibits by Ágnes Lukács, which have been prepared in accordance with current museum standards, are therefore available for loan for exhibitions - as are Schittny's own works on the subject of forced labour, which has occupied him for several years.

EXPANSION OF THE COLLECTION

We are looking for further works by the artist to expand our collection. If you own a work by Ágnes Lukács that you would like to sell, please get in touch!