Őriné Nagy Cecília (szerk.): A népművészet a 19-20. század fordulójának művészetében és a gödöllői művésztelepen (Gödöllői Múzeumi Füzetek 8. Gödöllői Városi Múzeum, 2006)
Folk Art as Reflected in the Art at the Turn of the 19,h and 20th Centuries and in the Art Colony of Gödöllő. Abstracts in English / Angol nyelvű összefoglalók
Abstracts in English 207 Katalin GELLER art historian, Research Institute for Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences THE ESTHETLC ATTITUDE TO FOLK ART IN CENTRAL EUROPE Style-centred art in the end of the 19 t h century, beside extending its esthetical approach to all walks of life, had formulated the new exigencies of the materialcentered character and of the expediency, had also strengthened the creator's personal subjectivity. Furthermore, it can be characterised by the fact that it attached more and more importance to symbolic expression. These features being however new, the social, philosophical and religious ideals that determined art in the whole of the 19 th century, continued to exert their influence in the new tendencies outlined above. Folk art appeared at the turn of the century and in the first decade of the 20 th century as one of the basic sources of the national style. The representation of peoples life continued to be regarded as social and ethical example, as being a representative symbol. The novelty in it was that it validated the new esthetical approach of the turn of the century, the attitude to villages as being ruskinian islands, carriers of eternal values and "earthly paradise". The secessionist masters strongly believed that they can create the equilibrium between the historical and the eternal, between the factual and the symbolic, the ideal and real, between fantasy and expediency, nature and art, village and town. Folk arts as sources of artistic creation formed an integral part of that common way of thinking and search for style, which was different from the western turn of mind and which characterised the art of the countries and regions wishing to preserve their national character at the turn of the century. This means that the concept of folklore as thought of by the artists of this age can properly be understood not by looking at its positive-historical truth content, but by its inherent esthetical approach, and by the role it played in the global turn of mind of the period. This concept, being a constructed system of ideas, has had an important influence both in the different modes of style creating and in the myth creating efforts of the era.
