ISKOLAI IVÓKUTAK [Report on "School Drinking Fountains"] by KARMAZSIN, László - 1959

[Budapest], 1959. Hardcover. Very good +. 4to. Gray bubble-grain cloth album, with design gilt-stamped to front board. Thirteen leaves, mimeographed rectos only with introductory text, followed by seventeen thick card leaves with mounted photographic prints (6.75" by 5") depicting sketches of fountains, one photo montage of fountains, and a pasted-in card of color swatches (which has detached); lastly sixteen fold-out blueprints bound in at rear, most about 23" by 23", several smaller. Overall, about near fine. Some trivial, small tears; light toning; but overall sharp, clean throughout.

Proposal for school water fountain designs submitted to the Hungarian Ministry of Culture by Imparmüvészeti Vállalat, a ceramics design firm. Though not a part of the USSR, Hungary was an Eastern Bloc state under deep Soviet influence, its socialist People's Republic government (1949-1989) concurrent with most of the Soviet Union. In keeping with typical Soviet design, the water fountains exhibit a late (and striking) constructivist influence. One photograph depicts a circle of seven fountains, and others designs show circular fountain bowls with multiple spouts; perhaps with the intent of creating a communal water-drinking experience for students. A fascinating intersection of design, education, and politics.