Dobrovits Aladár szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 2. (Budapest, 1955)

III. A KELETAZSIAI MŰVÉSZETI MÚZEUM TANULMÁNYAI - Major Gyula: Új Kína iparművészeti gyűjteménye a Keletázsiai Múzeumban. A Kínai Népköztársaság ajándéka a Magyar Népköztársaságnak

THE INDUSTRIAL ART OF NEAV CHINA JULIUS MAJOR At the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese People's Republic on the 1. of October 1954, an exhibition has been arranged in Budapest, representing the industrial and popular arts of China after the liberation. The exhibition was transferred from Budapest to Prague at the beginning of 1955, and after its being closed, the rich material has been presented by the Chinese Republic to Hungary and Czechoslovaquia, each receiving the half of it. The collection thus obtained, consisting of more than 700 objects, has been placed by the Hungarian Government in the Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in Budapest. The valuable collection furnishes a summary and clear illustration of the present industrial art of New China. In connection with the 1954 Exhibition of Chinese Industrial Arts numerous articles, catalogues and accounts have been published in Budapest, and their authors, in appreciating the new indusrial arts of China, mainly compared the objects exhibited to the works of similar character of the Past. According to the unanimous opinion of the critics, the new Chinese industrial art shows the characteristics of a powerfully enfolding renaissance. Present article is pointing to those regulations which led to the fast reconstruction of Chinese industrial arts, first of all to those economical regulations which were introduced by the People's Government and the Communist Party of China during the first period after the liberation. These regulations succeeded in reviving the destroyed or fully disorganized manufactures or workshops, making them productive again. The successful evolution of the new Chinese industrial art was greatly supported by the lately created institutes of art or science which regardes as their chief duty to offer professional advice to the industrial artists, conscientiously salvaging the artistic values of the Past. Extensive regulations have been introduced in order to organize the sale and the markets both in the country and abroad, with regard to the products of industrial arts. The esteem shown to the masters and artisans proved also extremely helpful in the new growth of industrial arts, as it had moral, as well as material, effects. The article is giving a detailed account of the results hitherto achieved by the new industrial art of China, dealing seperately with its branches. With regard to Ceramics the perfection of unicolor glazes, the beauty of the designs of underglaze decorations, the selection of subjects in figurai works, are accentuated In the art of lacquer work and of émail cloisonné there is a remarkable advance to be noted. The "bodiless" lacquer works and the cloisonné works of Peking surpass in many instances their classical models with their perfection and beauty. The textiles are characterized by the revival of the fine designs of old, and the endeavour to attain perfect colour effects. In the carving of wood or ivory the old patterns are still dominating, yet even in them the endeavour can be seen that art should apply itself to the new requirements of life, on basis of the principle that "art is in first line meant to appeal to the people". Popular art is also represented by a very rich material, as it can look back to a past of several thousand years, and offers many a creation of highest artistic value.