Worker-Peasant Alliance László Mészáros

Mészáros was in a close relationship with the labour movement and with the artists of socialist and communist leanings, such as Gyula Derkovits. The depiction of workers and peasants with pitchfork, sickle and hammers advancing in close formation is strongly reminiscent of György Dózsa’s crusading army attacking with straightened scythes, as depicted by Derkovits in his well-known series, nor it is difficult to recognize the technical features of woodcut prints in the condensed, “carved out” forms. The plaquette, however, still matches the artist’s sculptural style: the advancing figures are characterized by a certain static appearance and block-like representation. The young sculptor joined the archaizing trend of the period’s European art and a striking feature of his oeuvre is represented by Egyptizing, which also emerges in the work of several contemporary Hungarian sculptors. The rigid, frontal presentation and the effective power of repeated movements reflect the imprints of this trend on Mészáros’s plaquettes.