Journal of Art Historiography (Dec 2014)
Lajos Fülep: The task of Hungarian art history (1951)’ [Lajos Fülep, ‘A magyar művészettörténelem föladata (1951),’ in Ernő Marosi ed., A magyar művészettörténet-írás programjai [Programmes of Hungarian art history writing], Budapest: Corvina, 1999, 283–305, edited by Árpád Tímár]
Abstract
The Hungarian art historian and theorist Lajos Fülep wrote his programmatic essay The Task of Hungarian Art History as his inaugural lecture given at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1950. Starting from the provocative claim that the history of Hungarian art has not yet been written, the author distinguished ʽart in Hungary’ from ʽHungarian art.’ He argued that not all art created or found in Hungary could be designated as Hungarian art or included in its history, rejecting interwar art historians’ attempts to ʽappropriate’ art created by itinerant artists or other ethnic groups inhabiting the country. His essay called for new, fundamental research: an unbiased investigation of all art found in the historical territory of the country, so that subsequently Hungarian art could be identified within this greater whole. While rejecting appropriation, Fülep did not define Hungarian art by the ethnic origin of the makers; instead, he challenged art historians to prove the existence of clearly recognisable local traditions. This is the first English translation of a seminal text that has exerted a major influence on Hungarian art history writing. It is complemented by explanatory notes providing guidance for the non-Hungarian reader and is preceded by a short introduction which contains a biography of Fülep and a brief overview of his opinions on the question of national art.
