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Born in Selyp, Hungary, in 1906, György Kepes made a name for himself as a painter, photographer, and educator. His father managed a farm estate before the family moved to Budapest, in 1914; Kepes’s childhood exposure to peasants’ poor working conditions later influenced the socially conscious themes in his artwork. From 1924 to 1928 he studied painting at Budapest’s Academy of Fine Arts and joined Lajos Kassák’s Munka (Work) circle of artist-activists, where he was introduced to Russian Constructivism. In 1930 he began working with László Moholy-Nagy in Berlin on commissions for opera stage designs, advertising, and graphic design. From 1935 to 1937 their collaboration continued in London, where Kepes met and married Juliet Appleby, a book designer. In 1937, at Moholy-Nagy’s invitation, the couple moved to Chicago, where Kepes directed the Light and Color Workshop at the New Bauhaus. At the New Bauhaus, and beginning in 1945 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he experimented widely with optics in photography, developed a curriculum to integrate science and art, and initiated large-scale public light installations. In 1967, at MIT, he founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, which he directed until his retirement in 1974.
—Kelly Cannon
October 4, 1906 |
Born
At location: György Kepes
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Hatvan |
1914–30 |
Lives in Budapest
At location: György Kepes
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Budapest |
1920s |
Befriends Lajos Kassák and Robert Capa
At location: György Kepes
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Budapest |
1924–28 |
Studies at Budapest College of Fine Arts
At location: György Kepes
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Budapest |
1928 |
Joins Munka, a politically and artistically revolutionary group led by Lajos Kassák
At location: György Kepes
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Budapest |
1929 |
Begins making motion pictures
At location: György Kepes
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Budapest |
1930–31 |
György Kepes and László Moholy-Nagy work together creating film and stage products
At location: György Kepes, László Moholy-Nagy
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Berlin |
1934–35 |
Lives in Berlin
At location: György Kepes
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Berlin |
1936 through summer 1937 |
György Kepes works in László Moholy-Nagy's studio
At location: György Kepes, László Moholy-Nagy
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London |
October 1937 through 1943 |
Head of the light and color department at the New Bauhaus
At location: György Kepes
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Chicago |
October 23–November 7, 1937 |
Modern Hungarian Photography
Organizer: Imre Kinszki
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Budapest |
1939 |
First solo exhibition, at Katherine Kuh Gallery
Participant: György Kepes
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Chicago |
October 1941 |
Advance Guard of Advertising Artists at Katherine Kuh Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy
Organizer: György Kepes
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Chicago |
1944 |
Publishes Language of Vision
Contributor: György Kepes
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Chicago |
1945–67 |
Teaches visual design at the Massachussett Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Panning
At location: György Kepes
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Cambridge |
September 21–December 5, 1948 |
Collage at The Museum of Modern Art
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New York |
1967–72 |
Founds and directs the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
At location: György Kepes
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Cambridge |
December 29, 2001 |
Dies
At location: György Kepes
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Cambridge |