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Ament-Kovács Bence – Eitler Ágnes (szerk.): Örökségképzés, kulturális emlékezet, identitás. 163–192. Budapest: BTK Néprajztudományi Intézet, 2023 |
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Fruzsina Cseh: The Economic Foundations of Material Folk Art. The trade of Hungarian folk Art After World War II. |
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Abstract: In Hungary, the development of the concept of folk art was accompanied by the definitions of cottage industry, artistic cottage industry, and later applied folk art. From the late 19th century until the 1990s, the process was closely related to the development of cottage industry movements.The development of the cottage industry relied on several pillars: in the beginning, besides the upward convergence of economically underdeveloped regions, the construction of a national identity also played an important role, but in the post-World War II political system, economic and commercial considerations came to the fore. Encouraging designers and makers of artifacts to create objects of artistic quality while preserving authenticity, and thereby training conscious creative individuals, remained an important aspect all along. The institutional system of applied folk arts born in the 1950s has made a lasting contribution to the ethnographic collection of the cooperatives established at that time, as well as in the development of new design directions created during production. The domestic and foreign trade of folk art objects reached its highest circulation ever at that time, which not only ensured a livelihood for the tens of thousands of employees and outworkers of the cooperatives but also created the “economic conditions for the preservation of tradition.” Yet in the ongoing discourses on the revival – “heritagization” – of traditional handicrafts and folk art, trade is kind of a taboo, which must also take into consideration market interests that are often difficult to reconcile with the safeguarding of authenticity and genuineness. In this article, I look at the Hungarian institutions of folk art trade from the Second World War to the present day, and share the experiences of those involved in trade, based on written sources and interviews. |
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Kulcsszavak: népművészet, népi iparművészet, kereskedelem, népművészeti és háziipari szövetkezetek, |
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Keywords: folk art, applied folk art, trade, cottage industry and folk art cooperatives, socialism |
