English summary:

Györgyi Fajcsák PhD

Made in Asia. The Centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts and its Japanese core collection

 

The Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts celebrated the anniversary of its foundation in 2019. Our exhibition titled Made in Asia – The Centenary of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts displayed the best pieces in the collection of the one-hundred-year-old Hopp Museum, in addition to portraying the great periods in the history of the museum.

 

Ferenc Hopp, an optometrist and globetrotter (1833-1919), died one hundred years ago. In 1919 he bequeathed his collection of 4,000 items to the Hungarian state along with his villa on Andrássy Road, which later became home to the country’s first public collections of Asiatic cultures, serving the education of future generations. 

 

Ferenc Hopp bought the villa at 103 Andrássy Avenue in Budapest in 1885, after his first trip around the world. His home and garden reflected not only Hopp’s immediate environment, but also his passion about the Orient, with rare plants in his villa’s garden along with oriental artefacts. After his visit to the botanic gardens in Java (Buitenzorg, now Bogor, Indonesia), he renamed his own home Buitenzorg Villa (the Dutch word “Buitenzorg” means ‘carefree place’). He frequently invited guests to his extraordinary home and did not fail to take photographs of them in the garden. In Hungary, Hopp was the successful owner of Calderoni and Co., a company manufacturing optical and school supplies, and a respectable member of society. The adventurous and thrilling life of Ferenc Hopp is evoked in the garden and on the fences of his villa. The history of the villa and its garden, as well as the story of the artefacts that once stood in the garden, and those still standing there, can be read on the plaques and followed in archival photos.

 

Entering the villahouse-museum, a marble bust of Ferenc Hopp by Zsigmond Kisfaludy Strobl welcomes visitors into the main exhibition space. A famous ostrich egg (exhibit no. 1) bought by Hopp in Aden during his first trip around the world is displayed just next to the bust.

 

On the walls of the introductory corridor on the first floor, visitors can become acquainted with the lives and activities of five prominent people who represent the beginnings of collecting Asiatic artefacts in Hungary. While they each travelled around the Orient for different reasons, their collections are milestones in Asian art collecting in Hungary. In addition to the museum founder, Ferenc Hopp, the figures of János Xántus, Count Jenő Zichy, Count Péter Vay, and Dr. Dezső Bozóky will appear here for the first time.

 

The first hall presents a visual imprint of the museum’s first director, Zoltán Felvinczi Takács (tenure as director: 1919–1947): his collection criteria, social network and entire activity as museum director. At the time when Hopp purchased artefacts as a mere hobby, it was Felvinczi who helped him develop the material into a collection. This hall also contains the larger collections that were transferred from other public collections (e.g. Péter Vay’s collection of Japanese paintings and woodcuts, Japanese objects collected by János Xántus), as well as artefacts from India and Southeast Asia.

 

The second hall is devoted to the Hopp Museum’s post-WW II material. In this period its director was Tibor Horváth, an archaeologist and Japanologist (tenure as director: 1948–1972). Included among the exhibits of this hall are Chinese and Japanese objects purchased by tea master Horváth in Japan, as well as excellent items from the collections of renowned collectors (e.g. Ottó Fettick) in the 1950s.

 

The third hall contains items given to the Hungarian state as gifts. It is interesting to see what image countries (such as China, Korea and Vietnam) wished to convey about themselves through their gifts. Indeed, a wide range of motivations of self-representation is outlined from these artefacts: while the Chinese wanted to place the man of the “revolutionary era” and his aesthetic vision in focus, the Koreans and Vietnamese referred to themselves and their history through their unbroken traditions, with gifts such as traditional outfits and ceramic objects from the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

 

Buddhist art is at the focus of the fourth hall. The collecting and classification of the Buddhist material was begun by Felvinczi, the museum’s first director, who embraced Japanese art theoretician, Okakura Kakuzo’s idea of “Asia is one and eternal” and regarded Buddhism as Asia’s common spiritual treasure. The comprehensive processing and exhibition of the Buddhist material, which had been neglected for decades, began in 1990.

 

The practice of collecting items from Japan and conducting research into Eastern cultures in Hungary can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century. In this context three prominent figures deserve special attention: the first traveler and collector was János Xántus (1825−1894) who, as a member of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s East Asian Commercial Expedition of 1869–1870, was commissioned by the state to amass a substantial Japanese collection of natural historical, folk art, and applied art objects among others. He collected 663 Japanese items, mainly lacquer wares, ceramics, metal-, paper- and silkware, which became the first objects of public collections in Hungary from Japan with documented provenances.

 

The second figure was Ferenc Hopp, who travelled to Japan three times. He was a real Japan-fan. He collected mainly lacquerware (inros, boxes, combs, etc.), wood and ivory carvings as well as metalware (the total number of his Japanese objects was around 1600). Most of his items were displayed in showcases in his villahouse which was opened for visitors.

 

The largest and most significant Japanese collection was brought together by Count Péter Vay (1864−1948), who travelled far and wide, visiting Roman Catholic missions around the world. The bishop probably inherited his attraction to the East from his fam­ily, and he took a special interest in East Asian art, which he studied as intensively as he could. He also published the first handbook on Japanese art history in Hungarian. During his second journey to Japan in 1907, he suggested to the Hungarian minister of culture to purchase Japanese objects for the Museum of Fine Arts. He bought 2337 objects, which were also added to the initial holdings of the Hopp Museum in 1919. Two Buddhist paintings and three statues are presented here from Vay’s valuable collection.

 

Last but not least, adventuring visitors can deepen their knowledge with the help of the books published by the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts. All books are available in the museum’s webshop. A new, highly sought-after reference book about the history of the Hopp Museum’s collections and the descriptions of its most prominent artefacts is published as part of the anniversary celebrations (the volume is available in English as well).