Veres László: Magyar népi üvegek (Borsodi Kismonográfiák 28. Miskolc, 1989)

HUNGARIAN FOLK GLASSES The glasses of peasant households used in times past represent a particular colour in Hungarian folk art. The Hungarian ethnography did not attach special importance to these objects until recently, it took nearly no notice of them when studying the material surroundings of peasantry. At the turn of the century one could have collected glass articles still in large numbers but folk art research looked for special peasant, autochthonous genres. They made every effort to find in folk art the special, the original, the one which occurs only in Hungary to create national culture. However, glass-work was quite international. Mistrust in glass articles used by the peasantry was increased by the fact that these glasses belonged to the everyday life of the nobility and the bourgeoisie as well. Folk art was connected only with the peasantry traditionally. The rightful question was raised whether the nature of glass-work that is the fact that glass-making required large industrial equipment made it possible for glass-work to become folk art. Lately the genres of popular culture are also included in the concept of Hungarian folk art. It approaches the given object not only from the side of the makers but also from the side of the users. As a result of this change of view nowadays we place the glass articles used by the peasantry in the sphere of folk art. This writing is the first to try to take stock of the folk glasses in several collections aiming at completeness. We also endeavour to typify these products on the basis of t^ieir formal and ornamental characteristics and to define their place and role in European glass-art. Glass-ware of common use known in European - mainly in West European countries as Waldglas was denoted in Hungary by different names. They used rustic glass and peasant glass most. The glass-works founded in Hungary 150