Imre Jakabffy (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 2. (Budapest, 1974)

Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs en 1972

of the recently evolved practice we should carry on and maintain the relations with living applied art. Beside the publication of historical antecedents, it is considered the Museum's task to present from time to time shows of contemporary Hungarian applied art. We trust that our possibilities will widen, and accordingly enable us to enrich our programme of exhibitions. This will not only favour art, but also the interests of public education, since our museums have to assume a leading role in shaping public taste and, in spreading knowledge on art. Scholarly work will obviously continue to be directed mainly to the publication of the Museum's collections. A major task facing the historians of Hungarian applied art is their collaboration in the proposed ten-volume history of Hungarian art, to be completed in the next few years. This, of course, will not only require theoretical work, but will likewise offer the possibility of presenting certain historical periods and fields of special interest in the form of exhibitions. The Hungarian public is fond of this type of topical arrangements, and expects our institutions of highest standard do offer such exhibitions. Reflecting the aims of our cultural policy, the programme of exhibitions shall provide opportunities to present valuable initiatives. In addition to significant oneman shows care must be devoted to present to the public those trends as well, which in their combined effect exert an influence on the shaping of our environment. Applied art has the fortunate position of being able to present, by means of some outstanding examples, the surfaces of contact of the various contiguous fields, thus contributing to the dominance of the beautiful, the artistic values in our everyday life. On this occasion of celebrating the Centenary of the Museum of Applied Arts we cannot forego the fact that this distinguished institution has obligations not only to itself and the city of Budapest, but that its tasks include the participation in solving the problems of the whole country in the field of the museology of applied arts. Unfortunately, the trend of evolution in this country took such a course that only very few provincial museums directed their attention to collecting objects and materials of applied arts. In recent years several counties and cities took some steps in this direction. To support and assist these collections will no doubt form part of the tasks of the Museum of Applied Arts. It will be necessary to devote more attention than hitherto to arrange exhibitions of applied art in provincial areas, both in order to stimulate interest and to disseminate knowledge. The experiments gained from exhibitions so far staged show no less interest and predilection for this branch of art on the part of the public in the countryside than in Budapest. The implementation of the most important objectives is, of course, subject to a number of requirements. Storage space is needed, exhibition halls are needed, and all this constitutes difficult problems. We hope that the years to come will bring favourable changes in this respect as well. The main thing is, however, that the staff of the Museum of Applied Arts shall consider it their vocation to carry out these tasks, and that their activities shall contribute to the high standing of this institution in the social and professional spheres. We hope and trust that the team of collaborators of this Museum will assume an eminent role by their work in the fields of science and public education. To this we express our wishes of success, and on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture I can assure you that in the interest of our 212