Endre Tót (1937)
Endre Tót is one of the most interesting Mail Art-artists of the ’70s. He used to send letters all over the word from Budapest. He jokingly applied self censorship to the letters; parts of the text were intelligible. (Dear Mr. H. Ruhé, O’o oooo oo O ooo ooooo oo ooo.- Oooo ooooo +ooo?)
His letters and envelopes had stamped texts like I’M GLAD WHEN I CAN STAMP and DOCUMENTS MAKE ME CALM. For this he required rubber stamps that were practically impossible to produce in communist Hungary. He depended on foreign relations such as John Armleder and his Écart group in Geneva, where an exhibition of his work could be seen in 1974. Galerie A was also called for help: in 1975 Tót sent numerous designs to Amsterdam, the Posthumus company in the Sint Luciënsteeg made the stamps.
Not all of these rubber stamps arrived at the artist. Some were intercepted at the Hungarian border. The largest stamp was 12 cm in diameter and had an imprint of Tót’s laughing portrait. This one did arrive in Budapest.
Tót corresponded with various Fluxus artists such as Ken Friedman and Ben Vautier. George Maciunas designed a so-called ‘monogram card’ for him.
