Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Horváth, Tibor: Report on the Activities of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in 1968

TIBOR HORVÁTH REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EASTERN ASIATIC ARTS IN 1968 In this year, in addition to the routine duties, we had two central themes for our activities. The first was the outcome of a request made by Dr. H. Mode, professor of the Karl Marx University of Halle, President of the Preparatory Committee of the Exhibition: Buddhist Art in the Collections and Museums of the Socialist Countries asking our participation with loans from our museum. This exhibition was originally scheduled for 1969, then postponed for 1970. N. Kucharski from Leipzig, delegated by the Committee arrived in Budapest in February to make the selection from our exhibition and storage-rooms. With the help of László Ferenczy, deputy chief of section of our museum, they selected 64 pieces of sculpture, paintings and cult-objects. The description of these were supplied by László Ferenczy, Vera Horváth and Péter Polonyi, then translated into German language and supplemented with the photograph of each item which were sent in July to Professor Mode. In June we could turn to our second central task, the preparations of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of our museum on April 22nd 1919, during the time of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. For the Jubilee Exhibition, we thought to select the museum's outstanding pieces divided between our two buildings: the Hopp and China Museums. Geographically this exhibition would cover the whole continent with the exception of four or five smaller states, and reaching back to the 2nd millennium B.C. in historical sequence ending with our time. In this way, we believed, we could refer both to the material forming the original Hopp Collection and the enlargement of it made during the past 50 years. After the selection of the material, we prepared the plan of the exhibition and the blue-print for the installation and also prepared a Guide to the Jubilee Exhibition as well as a Handbook to the Collections. This last one describes the character of each part of the entire collection. The selections of the outstanding pieces for the Jubilee Exhibition, the writing of the Catalogue and Handbook were done by the keepers of the departments, namely: László Ferenczy for the Count Jenő Zichy's collection of Caucasian and South-Siberian antiquities, Middle-East, Mongolia, Vietnam and Korea, Vera Horváth for the art of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, Péter Polonyi for China, Eva Cseh for Japan. György Kovács, our chief librarian, made a number of helpful suggestions relating to India, Nepal and Indonesia. Gabriella Imre, keeper of the PhotoAr chives was of great help in providing the photographs for the Catalogue and Handbook, both of which were edited by Tibor Horváth.