Hungarian, 1924-2023

(Des)ordres

Computer drawing in multicolored ink on Benson plotter paper, 1974

Private collection

In the Des(Ordres) series Vera Molnár generated numerous variations on grids of concentric squares, a motif she returned to throughout her life. To create this series, she used a custom program called Molnart. She developed Molnart with her husband, François Molnár, an artist turned scientist who studied perceptual psychology and experimental aesthetics. By the early 1970s, some computers featured a new innovation: the graphical display. This enabled Molnár to see the results of her programs instantly, rather than waiting for a plotter machine to reveal the image hours or days later.

Molnár gradually removed squares from a five-by-five grid, introducing negative space and breaking up the grid’s regularity. She then injected more disorder into the image, simulating a hand-drawn line or offsetting the concentric squares from their axis. The title suggests a play on words in French between two meanings: désordres (disorder) and des ordres (some orders).