Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900) was the leading fi gure in nineteenth-century Hungarian art, a pioneering genius who established new traditions, whose oeuvre is a fundamental pillar in the history of Hungarian painting, and whose works constitute icons of Hungary's cultural heritage. He was held in immense esteem and admiration throughout his lifetime, owning not only to his talent as a painter and his outstanding craft smanship, but also to his international success, a legend in the history of his development from a poor orphan to the top of the social pyramid. To mark the double anniversary of 180 years since his birth and 125 since his death, the Hungarian National Gallery is holding a major exhibition from 16 November 2024 to 16 March 2025. The exhibition includes more than fi ft y works of art (both well-known masterpieces and lesser-known works, rarely seen in Hungary) which, along with archival photographs, documents and cultural artefacts, help to reveal Munkácsy's life, achievements and his unparalleled rich oeuvre.
The Hungarian National Gallery commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust with a graphic art exhibition in cooperation with the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives. The exhibition on the terrible events of eight decades ago will therefore focus on artists who themselves were victims of this catastrophe. The exhibition will present one-off and reproductive prints and albums that record everyday life in the ghettos, the concentrations camps and the forced labour camps in a narrative, figurative, or sometimes graphic-novel-like format.
In the volume published in connection with the exhibition, the chapters on Mongolian material cultural artefacts in Hungary are divided into four main thematic sections. The four chapters that make up the first thematic section cover the history of the intellectual and material heritage of academic and diplomatic relations between Hungary and Mongolia. Attila Rákos provides a summary of Hungarian expeditions, while Gergely Csiky focuses on Hungarian archaeological excavations in Mongolia. Krisztina Teleki recounts the stories of Hungarians who travelled through Mongolia having escaped from prisoner-of-war camps in Siberia in the 1920s, and Tímea Windhoffer focuses on Mongolian diplomatic gifts that became part of public collections in the context of state visits in the second half of the 20th century. Following in the footsteps of eminent scholars and their outstandingly important research topics, the four chapters that form the second thematic section explore research undertaken by Hungarian scholars in, or in relation to, Mongolia. The chapters proceed in chronological order. Györgyi Fajcsák discusses the collecting work carried out by Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, the first director of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, and the establishment of the archaeological collection associated with the nomads living in China's northern borderlands. Tímea Windhoffer examines Lajos Ligeti's travels in Inner Mongolia in light of the artefacts donated to the Ferenc Hopp Museum. Gábor Wilhelm focuses on Vilmos Diószegi's field research in the 1960s in relation to shamanism as well as his collecting work, while on the basis of materials collected during expeditions under her leadership, Ágnes Birtalan summarises the material culture of the Mongolian nomads. The third thematic thematic section presents some of the characteristic aspects of Mongolian Buddhist art and the related groups of objects in the collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts. Alice Sárközi describes the iconography of Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhist altars, while Ágnes Birtalan presents the domestic altars found in the yurts. Zsolt Szilágyi provides an introduction to the history of the Mongolian Jebtsundambas and their cultural-historical role, while in a chapter republished in the present volume, Judit Vinkovics discusses some of the most important Mongolian artefacts in Hungary, the objects associated with Dzanabadzar and his followers, held in the Ferenc Hopp Museum. Krisztina Teleki examines the depictions and sacred texts of Sridevi, the Buddhist female protector deity, in the collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum, and, based on an offering text, Tímea Windhoffer traces the iconography of depictions of Vaisrava?a. Finally, József Végh demonstrates the relationships between individual elements of Mongolian monastic art in light of the gcod rite. The fourth and final thematic section of the volume contains chapters on historical photographic images taken in Mongolia. Zoltán Bereczki introduces photographs originating from Lajos Ligeti's expedition to Inner Mongolia, while József Végh discusses the Mongolian photographs taken in 1959 and 1972 by Miklós Rév. The descriptions and details of the artefacts held in the Mongolian Collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum, which are used to illustrate the individual chapters in the different thematic sections, were prepared by the collection's curator, Tímea Windhoffer. The volume ends with an Appendix, which contains a separate bibliography, compiled by Gergely Csiky, of archaeological research carried out by Hungarians in Mongolia.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (Szépmuvészeti Múzeum)1 was established on the occasion of Hungary's millennial celebration in 1896, to house Hungarian and European works of art, mainly old master paintings and graphic art, from nearly all the most significant periods. The Collection of Prints and Drawings is the largest at the museum in numerical terms, consisting of around 100,000 items, of which the number of drawings has risen to approximately 9,000. The collection of old master drawings represents almost all the major artists and schools of European art, the Italian school being one of the most comprehensive and most valuable of all, numbering about 1,200 sheets. In regard to both their quantity and quality, the Museum of Fine Arts' eighteenth-century Italian drawings, comprising more than 350 sheets, can be considered one of the most important collections in Central Europe The present volume contains 353 entries for 356 drawings. The entries are organised alphabetically by the name of the artist, followed by the thirty-six anonymous sheets, arranged by region from the North to the South of Italy. The place and date of the artists' birth and death figure at their first entry only. When an artist is represented by more than one work, entries are organised in chronological order, if it is possible to date the drawings. For larger groups of works, brief introductions are included to characterise the series, as in the case of the Bibiena family, Giuseppe Cades, Donato Creti, Alessandro D'Anna, Gaspare Diziani, Filippo Giuntotardi, Agostino Masucci, Pietro Antonio and Francesco Novelli, Antonio Zucchi, and the Tiepolos and their followers. The entries are preceded by an introduction on the research work carried out in connection with the drawings, their provenance, and the character and the significance of the collection, and followed by the bibliography and indexes. The volume ends with the index of artists, including the catalogue numbers of their drawings
Sándor Hollán's relationship with the Museum of Fine Arts is several decades old. Since 2001, the painter has donated works of art to our museum on several occasions. In 2017, he offered a very significant donation, including more than a hundred of his compositions, which today enriches the Collection after 1800 and the Graphic Collection, and forms a significant unit in the collection of works from 20th-century emigrant Hungarian artists. Hollán's creative method is very specific in contemporary painting: when creating his works, he renounces the display of self-reflective gestures in order to make the object itself visible. Experimenting at the limits of visibility, he connects to the sight with a strong intuition, calling out the hidden abilities of the gaze. In addition to the ancient vessels in his still lifes, his main "models" are trees. These living creatures, which have been growing close to humans for thousands of years and are often interpreted as cultic iconographic symbols, have become the most important elements of Hollán's painting, in his words: his "masters". Getting to know his art offers a broadening of our relationship with the visible. quoting the title of a common picture, his works are impressions of the subtle but decisive experience of "the movement of life". This volume is a list of works donated to the Museum of Fine Arts by Sándor Hollán between 2001 and 2017, as well as The visible and invisible. Accompanying publication of the exhibition "A selection of works donated to the Museum of Fine Arts by Sándor Hollán". Museum of Fine Arts - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, November 4, 2021 - February 13, 2022.
Catalog of an exhibition held at Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, from October 28, 2021-February 13, 2022
The Journey of Gill Marais and Ilona Zboray through the Secrets of Bali exhibition brings together these two women travellers, embracing a period of almost hundred years. Two women closely bound by the continuity of the themes they immortalised. Ilona Zboray and Gill Marais travelled to Bali and conveyed their experiences under entirely different circumstances, but what they have in common is the fact they were largely documenting exactly the same themes. Ilona Zboray through her writing, and Gill Marais through her photographs. Perhaps this makes the relationship between their accounts so fascinating: Both these women were primarily interested in representing the world of women. This was not necessarily the result of a deliberate decision. However unintentional their choice, they nevertheless captured and photographed what they observed with a similar sensitivity. In the exhibition Trance / Dance / Bali, visitors are confronted with a different aspect of Bali, this earthly Eden popularly known as a tourist paradise - they are brought face to face with everyday life and mortality, ceremonies, the powers of evil, and the struggle against demons. The descriptions penned by Ilona Zboray and the photographs taken by Gill Marais draw us into the unique culture and unparalleled beauty of Bali through the medium of images and words. In the present publication, Gill Marais's photographs are accompanied by the captions that she herself wrote for them. The publication also reproduces three articles written by Ilona Zboray, along with the original photographs.
The nineteenth century was the period of establishing museums all over Europe. Led by noble ideas, our ancestors also founded important national collections in Hungary to make the foremost part of our cultural and historical heritage available to the public. This same ambition led to the establishment of plaster cast collections. The plaster replicas made after renowned sculptures are faithful reproductions of the originals in shape and detail. Their exhibition allowed the wide public to become familiar with the most outstanding masterpieces in an era when travelling was not generally affordable. While the main objective underpinning the establishment of museums in the nineteenth century was to make cultural heritage widely accessible, now, more than one hundred years after the foundation of cast collections, institutions are facing new challenges. One of these is the question of managing the plaster cast collections handed down to us. A peculiar fate befell cast collections in general: after their heyday in the late nineteenth century, their popularity was slowly eroded from the second decade of the twentieth century. The focus of collecting shifted to original artworks, and museums increasingly aimed to get rid of the plaster casts, which occupied a large space. Numerous cast collections were destroyed during this period. This change did not spare the Museum of Fine Arts either, and although the idea of scrapping the casts never arose, their handling and preservation were not ensured. The plaster copies survived World War II on the building's ground floor, but sustained serious damage. Not treated as a priority during the post-war reconstruction, they were forced out of the exhibition halls, after which decades of vicissitudes ensued. Some of the casts were stored in the Romanesque Hall, closed to visitors, while the rest was kept in the museum's cellar. The transfer of the plaster replicas to various locations in the country began in the 1970s. The entire collection of plaster casts made of works from classical antiquity was taken to Tata and Komárom. In the meantime, the renovation of the museum's Romanesque Hall began, making the issue of accommodating the plaster casts even more pressing. After years of preparatory work, the high-quality monument reconstruction and extension project of the Star Fortress was realized between 2017 and 2019. While preserving the building's original appearance, modern functions were added for visitor services. The large-scale reconstruction resulted in 7,000 square metres of renewed floor space and an exhibition space of over 2,500 square metres. The Star Fortress forms part of the system of fortifications in Komárom, which was one of the biggest military investments of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the nineteenth century, as well as the most significant military complex in Central Europe. Having lost its original function long ago, the building became increasingly run down over recent decades. After the complex renovation of the more than hundred-year-old cast collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, some three hundred of its most significant pieces are now exhibited in the Star Fortress.
Eight Centuries of Drawings and Prints in the Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest This jubilee album settles a long overdue debt, and allows readers to pay simultaneous tribute to eight centuries of international drawn and printed art, to the entry into state ownership, a century and a half ago, of a remarkable aristocratic art collection, and to the earnest efforts to expand the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, that have continued ever since. This volume contains a wide selection of the finest drawings and prints that are held in the Museum, focusing on the centuries-old traditions of the genre, its incessant ability to renew itself, its technical diversity, and its varied solutions of form. The more than 500 prints and drawings that are reproduced on these pages offer the most powerful evidence of the inseparability between thought and creativity, which is unquestionably the most valuable function of art.
This little book offers a selection of the masterpieces of the Hungarian National Gallery's collection. It resembles in a way a family photo album, with pictures of relatives and acquaintances from the present, the recent past, and earlier centuries. Whilst it cannot replace personal encounters, on each page we may discover something that is common to us all. The attention of visitors to Budapest is naturally drawn to the grand domed palace on the Castle Hill in Buda, which is also a major emblem of the Hungarian capital. The building once functioned as Royal Palace, and suffered grave damage during the Siege of Budapest in 1945. After its reconstruction, the largest museum of Hungarian fine art, the Hungarian National Gallery was located here, opening its first exhibition in 1975. The collection comprises around a hundred thousand works, only a small proportion of which can be viewed in exhibitions. All these works, however, are invaluable; without them we would be poorer spiritually, emotionally, artistically and personally. Hungarians know these works from their school textbooks; we tell our children and friends about them, and proudly show them to guests visiting from abroad. These artworks belong to the entire nation. They tell our national story, for they portray the events, heroes, symbols, and feelings of our shared history. We see in them familiar Hungarian landscapes, historical figures, and objects.
The English-language volume Japonisme in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was produced to celebrate the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the countries belonging to the former Monarchy, under the direction of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts - Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asian Art. The representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Japan signed the trade and friendship treaty between the two countries in Tokyo on October 18, 1869, which had an impact on the international politics between the parties, promoted the development of trade and cultural transfer. Although the Monarchy disintegrated into several successor states after the end of 1918, the love of Japanese art and culture became part of the common cultural history of many countries in the Central and Eastern European region. The purpose of the study volume is to present the appreciation and appreciation of Japanese culture and its role as an inspiration for local artists. This volume is the fruit of a three-year collaborative project, during which Japonism researchers from countries that were once part of the Monarchy worked together. The seventeen specialist studies are divided into four thematic segments. The unit A New Acquaintance introduces the reader to the historical, political, and cultural milieu of the beginning of Japonism in East-Central Europe, which was as special for the young Monarchy as it was for the Japanese Empire, which was undergoing significant social changes due to the restoration of imperial power. The second part, Traveling Artifacts, focuses on the reception, collection and interpretation of Central European Japanese artworks. The third unit, Artists and Works of Art, discusses such classic themes of Japonism as painting, printmaking, ceramic and glass art, and theater. The last part of the volume, The Incentives of Japonism, focuses on the cultural, political, social phenomena and atmosphere in Central Europe, which provided fertile ground for the absorption of Japanese culture and made the citizens of the Monarchy more open to new impulses from the East than at any time before.
The building of the Museum of Fine Arts is one of the prime jewels in Heroes' Square, the magnificent square that crowns Budapest's great avenue: this prominent location also serves to indicate the imposing role it has played in Hungary's cultural life. Its creation in 1896 was one of the most significant of the major investments aimed to demonstrate the dynamic development of the country which, on the millennium of its foundation as a state. The purpose of the new museum was to provide a comprehensive view of the history of the visual arts. The small album you are holding gives a taste of the finest pieces in the collections of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts. From the ocean we have scooped up a few drops of water in which something of the whole is reflected. This volume is a kind of souvenir, and no substitute for perusing the rooms of the museum in person, yet it can help us, later at home, to recollect this world, which is immensely rich. It captures the impression of a moment, and inspires us to return at a different moment, with different eyes, discovering new aspects.
This publication offers the history of the Hopp Museum's collections and the descriptions of its most prominent artefacts. The Art of Asia catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition titled Made in Asia. The Centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Budapest, 14 June 2019 - 14 May 2020
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