The Kovásznai Research Centre prepared the first book about Kovásznai, which will later be followed by a monography introducing the entire oeuvre of the artist.

At the bookshow János Másik plays songs by the Kex band, which is also appropriate because they composed the music for one of Kovásznai?s most interesting films titled City through my Eyes (1971), which is half real life, half animation. On the DVD – which is part of the book – the main music is a Kex song from 1971.

The book was designed by Gábor Gerhes.

Society of Kovásznai and Dr Végh in the 60?s
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” comes to mind while I am watching the series painted onto browned papers showing faces half hidden behind walls with their careful peering looks. These pictures reemerge in the 1967 Hamlet adaptation by György Kovásznai, which gained several international animation film prizes. No matter whether he worked on an adaptation or his own scripts, Kovásznai?s drawings and paintings have real drama in them reflecting the general feeling of his age. In his paintings, writings and films he always uses a very sensitive ?smell sensor? and often expresses the contradictions between one?s personal desire for freedom and feelings of justice and the political and social determinations of that time.

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FOAMBATH
Colour trickfilm to heartbeat, 78 min, 1979

“It is difficult to conceive a more confusing animation film than György Kovásznai?s work titled Foambath (1979), in which an unexcelled visual and musical orgy mixes with real Hungarian ‘gagyism’ (phoniness) and a terrible knowledge of the human nature with the critique of the Kádárist philistine. What is it like when the disintegrating psyche of a professional window-dresser gets shape? What is it like when a film is 15 years ahead of its time?” (see article by Olivér Horváth)
Kovásznai, who died in 1983, wanted to break up with traditional animation themes and had a goal to create an all-night animation film about people from Pest. He is anatomizing problems of the youth including the most difficult one: what to do with ourselves, what to do with our partner, what about having children and bringing them up, and generally, how to fulfill our tasks in life. This serious topic is presented in an unusually eclectic style and in an entertaining way. This film is a grotesque animation musical comedy: it embraces various painting styles, from pop-art via Picasso to Rippl-Rónai; songs are performed by Kati Bontovics and Albert Antalffy, and creators even include original interviews which tell us how to bring up 8 children and whether there are minor Gypsies who give birth or not