Műtárgyvédelem, 2010 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Bevezetés
Editorial Judit B. Peijés t 1941-2011 ‘Man has a soul which can believe and soar. And this soul is immortal, and faces the world with boldness.’ Sándor Márai With the death of Judit, we have lost not just an extraordinary person, one whose soul really could believe and soar, but much more besides! She encouraged others, and gave strength and hope in the performance of tasks that often seemed impossible. Judit B. Perjés worked in the museum sphere from the age of 20. She began her career in 1961, at the King Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár. She afterwards served on the staff of the Rippl-Rónai Museum in Kaposvár, the Miklós Jurisich Museum at Kőszeg, the Museum of the Textile Industry in Budapest, and the Central Directorate for Museums, likewise in the capital. Later, she moved to the Hungarian National Museum’s Department of Conservation. She retired in 2005, as Head of the Conservation Department at the Budapest History Museum. Judit graduated in 1981 from the Department of Public Collections and Artefact Conservation at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. Later, in 1984, she graduated again, from the Department of Metalwork and Goldsmith’s Work at the same institution. Her principal area of activity - also her main field of research - was the restoration and conservation of artefacts made from organic materials and artefacts of mixed composition (metal, leather, textile). Right up to her death, she took part in the training of artefact conservators, teaching conservation of applied arts objects at the Conservation Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. For many students, her approach to the restoration of archaeological artefacts served as an example to follow in their own careers. Outside of her main work, Judit always took part happily and enthusiastically in such tasks as the supervision of art object protection, within the framework of which she tirelessly visited — together with colleagues — conservation studios, exhibitions, and storage facilities, endeavouring to help to the best of her abilities and as much as she was able. Guided by similar intentions, she also participated in the efforts of the Action Committee for the Protection of Works of Art in Museums, established by Hungary’s Ministry of National Cultural Heritage. She followed with especial attention the lives of museums and public collections beyond the country’s borders, on many occasions assisting them in the writing of competition applications and in the organising and performance of restoration work. Although by profession ‘an artefact conservator artist’, Judit regarded humankind as her true vocation. She did not begrudge her time or energy when she felt 7
