Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)
Györgyi FAJCSÁK: Bertalan Hatvány, an unknown Connoisseur of Oriental Art
GYÖRGYI FAJCSAK BERTALAN HATVÁNY, AN UNKNOWN CONNOISSEUR OF ORIENTAL ART 1 Bertalan Hatvány was born in the year 1900, into the distinguished Hatvany-Deutsch family. His tastes and inclinations were influenced by the example of other members of his family: one of his cousins, Ferenc Hatvány (1881-1958), was a painter and art-connoisseur; another cousin, Lajos Hatvány (1880-1961), was a man of letters; and his mother, Lady Fanny Hatvány, possessed a notable collection of fine porcelain 3 . Bertalan Hatvány himself became an active patron of art, of Hungarian literature (we may mention particularly the literary journal Szép Szó, and the poet Attila József), and, above all, dedicated himself to the field of Oriental philosophy and art. In this paper, on the one hand I shall try to indicate the roots of his Oriental mainly Chinese-interests, including the sources of his knowledge; and on the other I attempt to introduce Bertalan Hatvány the collector, and his collection. Hatvány was a well-known personality of his time. The details of the objects comprising his collection, most of which are today unfortunately known only from documentary records, give the art-historian the possibility of reconstructing his concept of Oriental art, and his credo as a collector. Hatvány is an emblematic figure in the twentieth-century history of Orientalism in Hungary; and thus I believe that this presentation of Bertalan Hatvany's life and work may be a fitting tribute to the late Professor Pál Miklós, on the occasion of the first anniversary of his death. I. Biography Baron Bertalan Hatvány (1900-1980) 4 was born in the town of Hatvan, into one of the most well-known Hungarian business and banking families of the time. The original family name was Deutsch. In 1879, József and Bernát Deutsch were ennobled, and thereafter used the geographical name "hatvani" as a prefix. Later, in 1897, the family adopted the double-name "Hatvany-Deutsch" 5 ; and in 1911, one year after receiving the baronetcy, they abbreviated this to "Hatvány" 6 . The family firm of Igfnác] Deutsch and Son, agricultural-produce merchants, was originally registered in 1856; from the start they dealt also with matters of finance and credit 7 . In time, the firm became the most prominent company in the Hungarian milling and sugar industry". Bertalan Hatvány on his father's side was the great-grandson of the company's founder, Ignác Deutsch (1803-1873). His father József Hatvány (1858-1913) was from 1884 the joint proprietor of the company, and established sugar factories in Nagysurány in 1881 and in Hatvan in 1889. József Hatvány was elected a member of the upper chamber of the Hungarian parliament in 1910. Bertalan Hatvany's mother, née Fanny Laczkó (18847-1964), was the daughter of the Counsellor to the Director of the Austrian Land-Credit Institute. Bertalan Hatvány was educated in Budapest, but was not an outstanding student. Subsequently he attended courses in chemistry and in business studies. In the final months of the First World War he enrolled as a voluntary artilleryman in the national army 9 . In his 1957 autobiography 10 , written at the request of the Hungarian emigre journal Látóhatár (published in Munich), Hatvány
