Janos Mácza Archive

A significant part of the Janos Mácza archive covers publishing activities and comprises manuscripts of his works prepared for publication in Russian. His Aesthetics (An Introduction to the Philosophy of Artistic Culture), compiled into two typewritten volumes, includes multiple handwritten additional materials. This book was prepared between 1942 and 1946 based on a lecture course delivered by Mácza at the Department of Art History at the Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History (1934), at the State Institute of Cinematography (1935), and at Moscow State University (1945). The printed editions include the first layout of the book The History of Aesthetic Teachings issued by Moscow University Publishing House (1961), which also features extended comments and corrections by Mácza. Another rare document in the archive is the unpublished manuscript of The Youth of Michelangelo (1938¬-1939), which has an author's note dated 1970 commenting on the history of the appearance of this work of fiction. Among other things, the note mentions Vladimir Kemenov’s scandalous article in the journal Under the Banner of Marxism (8, 1937) where Mácza was attacked and, as a result, was forced to temporarily interrupt his research.

The archive contains several letters and notes, some handwritten by Mácza. Of particular interest are the notes that he exchanged shortly before death with his colleague, Professor Viktor Lazarev.

Another part of the archive materials dates to a later period and was likely formed as part of the academic and teaching activities of various people from Mácza's close circle. It features summaries of books on art history and lectures on various topics, along with articles, chronological charts on the history of civilizations, and notes on various eras and subjects from the history of art as well as a selection of articles and tables on palynology and geomorphology. Of particular interest is a notebook with detailed pencil drawings accompanied by handwritten texts, which contains original design projects, architectural sketches, and drawings of vehicles.

Janos Mácza