Fügedi Márta: Reprezentáns népcsoportok a 19-20. század fordulójának népművészet-képében (Miskolc, 2001)
SUMMARY
ETHNIC GROUPS RAISED TO REPRESENTATIVE ROLE IN THE IMAGE OF THE FOLK ART AT THE TURN OF THE 19 TH_ 20 TH CENXURIES The scientific interest in the Hungarian folk art is almost of the same age as the discovery of the Hungarian folk art, with the period terminology: homecraft, happening in the second half of the 19 th century. The main characteristics of the research work of the Hungarian ethnography are the local and the thematic, by way of forms, scientific investigations. The studies of scholarly character have relied mainly on the comparative methods of the history of civilization; and they set the task of revealing the phases of development of the folk art as a historical growth and the characteristics of those. Another branch of the research work examines the products of local handicraft closely correlated with the structure, scale of values and customs of the peasant society. In 1986 - within the scope of Hungarology, a comprehensive research program started with the aim of examining the national cultures with a new approach. In this examination, two themes, the regularities and the creation of the tradition received outstanding roles. I was inspired by Tamás Hofer to join in the research work with studying the folk art of the „matyóság", one of the most characteristic ethnographical groups living in and near Mezőkövesd (a town in Northern Hungary). This examination has determined and influenced my ethnographic research. My first theme was the „matyó" peasant-wedding feast as coming to be an ethnographic spectacle, in which I started examining the „selection" of special elements of folklore, which is a peculiar manifestation of it. Later, developing more widely the theme above, I studied the process; in which the „matyó" folk art had been coming to be representative and infiltrating into the mind of the nation. After having published some essays, I summed up my research work and in 1997, I published my book entitled „Myth and Reality: The „Matyó Folk Art". Developing the theme more widely, my aim was to place the followings into a more general spatial and temporal milieu: a) the folk image (discovered by the examination of the „matyó" folklore), b) the tendencies and ambitions (based on the „matyó" example), c) and those elements which are described as „Hungárián", „populär" or „rustic" (lifted from the local culture into the national culture). From the turn of the ÎÇ^-IO* centuries, the image of the Hungarian popular culture and the image of folklore, the world of peasant craft-products, has been determined by three regions: „Kalotaszeg" („discovered" in 1885), the „matyóság" (an ethnic group which became famous during the Millennium in 1896) and „Sárköz" (known from the turn of the 19 th —20 th centuries). The folklore of these three regions has created the image of the Hungarian peasant culture, values, and beauties. This image has influenced the scientific research, the efforts in favour of the national art and the aspect of the general taste, of the domestic industry and, through linked transmissions, the trade and tourism, too. My intention was to reveal the history and characteristics of getting acquainted with these three regions. In the course of investigating this process, I have given utmost attention to the parallel and similar occurrences and tendencies. Also it was a very impor-
