Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 24. (Budapest, 2006)

Györgyi FAJCSÁK: Exibition of Oriental Arts, 1929 - Collecting Chinese artefacts in Hungary in the 1920s and 1930s

GYÖRGYI FAJCSÁK EXHIBITION OF ORIENTAL ART, 1929 "AUSSTELLUNG ORIENTALISCHER KUNST, BUDAPEST, 1929" COLLECTING CHINESE ARTEFACTS IN HUNGARY IN THE 1920s AND 1930s

1 In 1929, the Association of Hungarian Collectors and Connoisserurs arranged an Exhibition of Oriental Art in the Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest), which proved to be the major muster of Oriental artefacts of Hungarian private collections between the two World Wars. The public could see Oriental artefacts of more than 50 collectors and art dealers. The catalogue of the exhibition, its photos and its documents deposited in the documentation department are still key sources for outlining the history of collecting Oriental artefacts in Hungary. In this study, I intend to go back to the second half of the 19"

1 century to sketch the evolution and nature of collections of oriental arts in Hungary and then to present the principal trends of collecting pieces of Chinese art between the two Worlds Wars. Giving an insight into the characters of certain major collectors and their collections,

2

1 intend to picture the role and status of the Chinese artefacts in Hungary and contemporary Europe, as well as the conception and collectors' ars poetica of the Exhibition of Oriental Art (1929). Oriental collections, Chinese pieces Changes in European artistic taste from the second half of the 19

,h century to the 1920s In the mid-19'

h century, ideas concerning the development of art history were based on exactness and relied on the tenets of evolution and results of scientific observations. Hippolyte Adolphe Taine's (1828-1893) theory of milieu considered geographical factors, such as climate, vegetation and geological conditions to be the source of artistic phenomena. Gottfried Semper's (1803-1879) views served as a basis for trends of applied arts that influenced the second half of the 19

lh century and determined the World Exhibitions. He conceived development of style on the pattern of tenets of evolution and scientific observations. As he wrote in 1853, "Even the enormous exuberance of nature can be ordered in sets. Why should we not draw an analogical conclusion that, to certain extent, the same may hold true for the creatures of our hands, that is, works of art? Just as the works of nature, the works of art are also connected by a limited number of governing ideas; these ideas are expressed in the simplest way in certain ancient forms or types."

1 Semper was principally interested in observations concerning the creation of works of art and ornamentation; through the World Exhibitions and exhibitions of applied arts, both exercised significant influence on the Oriental collections that evolved in the second half of the 19'" century. The aim was to display objects of excellent value of various countries and cultures and thus refine the artistic taste of craftsmen and the public. Yet on what basis were the objects of Oriental exhibitions selected? As János Xántus wrote in 1871, in the catalogue of an exhibition that displayed the objects collected in the course of a commercial exhibition launched by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1869-70, "...obtain all the handicrafts of Far-Eastern people on reasonable expenses and to the highest extent. Not costly and excellent artefacts of limited number but cheaper, various works were obtained; in many cases, they are but samples."

4 In most cases, Xántus