Török Károlyné Miszori Marianna (szerk.): Virággal ékes. A népi bútorfestés hagyományai (Zalaegerszeg, 2012)
A népi bútorfestés visszatanításáról
About the revival of the folk furniture-painting Currently one of the greatest challenges facing the XXI century is the preservation and the passing on of the accumulated cultural heritage to the coming generations. Within the Hungarian folk culture, as part of the folk art, the folk art of furniture-making played a major role. Partly, the still preserved painted furniture and objects are treasuring one of the greatest masterpieces of a slowly forgotten era. Partly the masters, armed with knowledge, can pass on this treasure to the posterity by teaching them this art. The learning of the Hungarian folk furniture-painting has been given a bigger emphasis in the recent years, especially when our ethnographers, researchers and people actively involved in folk art, have turned their attention to the so called “rare crafts”. So, this so called rare crafts category also covered the modern day furniture-manufacturing. How can we imagine the learning process in a modern society, in an environment, where our customs, linguistic treasures, attitudes, homes and the way we arrange our rooms, have changed? In this altered world we should strive to arouse an interest in an old craft, whose products are not in line with the current contemporary trends - an idea which may be viewed as sheer boldness. In spite of all, it is worthwhile. Nowadays many renowned ethnographers debate if the expressions “nurturing the heritage” and “preserving the heritage” hold any water, because our aim is not to nurture, protect, or preserve the empirical and theoretical heritage, but to spread it to a broader social group, familiarize it, and even teach some of the old crafts. The first and possibly the most fundamental step in the process of teaching folk furniture-painting is to direct the attention on the mastery of the craft using genuine literature, coloured paintings or objects, which will convince the candidates of the wonders this craft offers. Mainly it is the arousal of attractiveness, which then drives the learning process. It is of great significance, that we have a palpable painted work of art; a small gift, small piece of furniture prepared on every presentation which has to be meaningfully suitable for the needs of every age group; hence it will provide the motivation for its manufacturing. Similarly to other branches of folk arts (e.g. at the gatherings of folk chorus clubs, embroidery clubs, storytelling clubs) intergenerational learning has a major community building role in this field. The more age diversity is in the class, the bigger is the possibility of creating new motifs, transmitting and exchanging experiences. Furniture painting represents a time consuming process, which may require days or even weeks to complete. That is the reason why we use small objects, miniature chest made of spruce tree, to demonstrate, chiselling, coating, motif drawing, colour painting the motifs, drawing contour lines, storing and as well as linseed oil coating techniques, to beginners. During this phase of the presentation it is possible to acquire and bring to life new ideas, schemes, various patterns and innovative concepts designs. Most probably, the charm which transmits the furniture-painting heritage into the modern era resides here. Old painted chests, chairs, mirror frames and tables can merge together with the standards expressed by contemporary creations. How gorgeous and practical can become a painted salt and pepper holder with a motif of a red tulip, we can even place a stylish monogram napkin holder on a modern table, even small painted stools with a motif of a tree of life can become the adornment of every nursery, the old coat stand is now being substituted with the modern accessory; the wall key holder, modern rooms are reigniting the trend of using coroneted mirror frames containing the family members' monogram or the family name. The old folk lifestyle and customs, the reignited interest in giving more emphasis on preserving the significant celebrations, has brought a new life into folk painting which is more in line with the modern era. A good example of that is the painted advent candle holder, which could be the descendent of the table advent wreath. In this manner the possibilities reach far beyond the presentation of the folk values, via teaching folk painting, the old customs can be revived; the knowledge about traditional motifs can be transmitted. The geographical area of the Hungarians, muravidéki Hungarians, Slovenes which they inhabit allows them to have access to and acquire the bare necessities for furniture-painting; trees, mainly the spruce tree. The worthy and the renewed goal of this land's treasures can be the enrichment of its home culture and folk arts. 40
