Imre Jakabffy (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 2. (Budapest, 1974)

Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs en 1972

Museum of Applied Arts no doubt takes a peculiar place in Hungarian history of culture; while its unusual architectural solutions must have caused some trouble to the organizers of exhibitions even at the time when it was first used, it has by now become one of the landmarks of the city, and forms an inseparable part of the heritage of Hungarian museums. The façade displays, high over the entrance, four statues symbolizing the initial four departments of applied art at that time, namely metalwork, ceramics, textiles and applied sculpture. Fortunately, the experts of the Museum did not restrict the scope of the Museum to these four branches. Although these fields no doubt boast the most comprehensive collections, the staff of the Museum have continously expanded and enriched the range of the collections and the activities of the Museum, keeping in constant touch with the requirements of the day. The exhibits of the collections were acquired by gifts, deposits, purchases, as well as Government Grants; the material encompasses old and recent, Hungarian and foreign works of applied art. The Museum at present has five main departments, preserving some 60.000 exhibits. The Reference Library subsequently grew into one of national significance, and there is also a notable collection of Photographs and Archives provided for research. Although he limits of this address make it impossible to enumerate all those who have contributed to the collections of the Museum of Applied Arts, yet some of the names must be mentioned, since public assistance, in addition to government grants, is the most effective means for advancing the growth of a museum. A particularly fine example of generosity was furnished by the widow of György Rath who, true to the intentions of her late husband, presented his collection of outstanding value as a gift to the nation in 1905. The museum building in Gorkij Avenue, once the home of György Rath, to-day accomodates the China Museum. The Museum's activities have always been closely connected with the life of art in the country. Ever since 1896, the exhibitions of the National Hungarian Society of Applied Arts have been arranged here, and exhibitions halls were made from time to time available to various associations, such as the Federation of Home Crafts, the Association of Hungarian Decorative Artists, of the Numismatic Society. It was likewise this Museum where the Society of Museum Friends was set up, as well as the Bibliophilie Society. In a certain period the Museum was the home of the National Board of Historic Monuments, and the Board of Applied Arts also had its offices here for some time. In the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 the Museum was controlled by a Committee. This period was marked by the nationalization of works of art of general interest, a measure of momentous importance. The Commissariat of Public Education assigned a notable part to the Museum in the afterschool instruction of workers. The lecture courses of great popularity, interrupted by the war, were resumed; new full-day opening hours were also introduced in the era of the Soviet Republic. During the same period did the collector Ferenc Hopp bequeath to the nation his entire East Asian collection with his villa at Andrássy Street, where the affiliated Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts was set up in 1919. The financial difficulties of the post-war years gradually paralyzed the fine upswing of the Museum. The Museum's pre-war endowment was curtailed by more than 50 per cent, with the allocation for pur208