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Janco [Iancu], Marcel
(b Bucharest, 1895; d Ein Hod, 1984). Romanian painter, printmaker, architect and writer. He was a pupil of the painter Iosif Iser and from 1915 studied architecture in Zurich. With Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Richard Huelsenbeck and Hugo Ball, Janco participated in the Dada performances of the Cabaret Voltaire (see DADA, §1). Janco made props and posters for the Dada group and illustrated with engravings the books of Tristan Tzara; he broke with Dada in 1922. In 1918 he became involved with the NEUE LEBEN group in Basle. After returning to Romania in 1920 he took part in all the major avant-garde exhibitions, showed at the Maison d’Art in Bucharest (1922) and was a member of the group Contimporanul (1924), which published an eponymous review and organized the first international avant-garde exhibition in December 1924. Janco was prolific as an artist, drawing, painting, engraving, designing buildings (e.g. Wexler House, 1931, Bucharest, with his brother, Jules Janco) and also writing manifestos and articles. As well as abstract graphic compositions, in which he explored the possibilities of a universal formal language, Janco produced works of traditional genres. In his portraits in Indian ink he took up the formal aspects of Expressionism. His paintings also display such elements. Although some abstract reliefs of c. 1918–20 show an inclination towards geometric abstraction, Janco never fully came to terms with it. In 1940 he emigrated, settling in Tel Aviv. The move marked a renewal in his art, away from abstraction to vigorous interpretations of the colourful local life. He also became involved in progressive art education. In 1948 he founded the New Horizons group, and in 1953 he set up the artists’ colony of Ein Hod in the ancient Arab village of Carmel. In 1967 he was awarded the Grand Prix National d’Israel.
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