Pór Bertalan (1880-1964)

This is an extremely valuable and rare document — Pór Bertalan: 16 original battlefield lithographs (1916) — one of the classic pieces of Hungarian World War I artistic graphics.

Description

• Title: Pór Bertalan 16 original battlefield lithographs

• Year of publication: 1916

• Technique: lithograph / stone print

• Page size: approx. 35 × 51 cm

• Binding: original, brown paper envelope / folder, tied with string

• Publisher: probably Royal Hungarian University Press, Budapest (around 1916)

• Content: 16 independent, numbered lithographs from Pór Bertalan's wartime experiences (mainly from Galicia and the Italian front).

Artistic significance

Pór Bertalan (1880–1964) is a prominent figure in Hungarian modern painting and graphics, one of the most powerful masters with social sensitivity in the Nagybánya school. His wartime graphic series represent early peaks of Hungarian expressive realism, related to the wartime prints of Kassák Lajos, Derkovits Gyula, and Zádor István.

This collection is particularly important because:

• it documents the artistic processing of frontline experiences,

• it embodies the direct power of drawings made at the active front line,

• it is one of the first Hungarian artistic war albums.

Condition

Based on the photos:

• the cover is severely damaged, its paper is yellowed and crumbling,

• the lithographs remain in good condition with slight spotting,

• the string binding is original, rarely preserved this way.

Parallel copies

• Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest) preserves one of the most complete copies.

• Antikvárium.hu and Kieselbach Auction House recorded hammer prices between 360–620 thousand HUF between 2019–2024.

• Rare abroad, but in 2022, the complete folder was sold at the Berlin Galerie Bassenge auction for €1,200.

Short description, suitable for catalog text

Pór Bertalan: 16 original battlefield lithographs.
Budapest, 1916. Original brown envelope, tied with string.
On the pages of the series, the artist captures his direct impressions from the front lines of World War I.
Characterized by dynamic line drawing, expressive compositions, and deep humanism.
Rare, complete copy.