Painter on the Mont des Arts The Musée Magritte in Brussels presents the oeuvre of the Belgian artist MúzeumCafé 29. author: Ernő P. Szabó Exhibitions of works by the Belgian painter, graphic designer, sculptor, photographer and film-maker René Magritte (1898–1967) are successful across the world. Specialists regard him as a key figure in 20th-century art history. The Magritte Museum opened in 1999 in a building the artist and his wife moved to in 1930. Almost ten years to the […]
“I’m doing this only for the sake of Attila” Renewal of the Attila József Memorial House in Balatonszárszó MúzeumCafé 29. author: Judit Jankó A lot is known about Attila József, but what is known is not always the same. We are familiar with the stages of his life and his oeuvre has been analysed. It might seem a simple task to devise a timely memorial display about Attila József. Yet it’s not so easy, as shown by the […]
Museums standing their ground Street in the museum – museum in the street MúzeumCafé 29. author: Zsófia Frazon, ethnographer, Museum of Ethnography The interaction between museums and public spaces, filling the ‘world of the street’ with a museum and making ‘outside’ a museum are old phenomena, although the different approaches have changed over time. If we examine how urban space (and its art) appears in museums, or how the urban environment functions as an exhibition space, or […]
Female front lines A possible role for museums in analysing and presenting gender history MúzeumCafé 29. author: Krisztina Kelbert, historian, museologist, Savaria museum I would like to call attention to research involving a reinterpretation of female roles by focussing on individual lives, which goes beyond seeing women as ‘passive observers’ and makes an attempt to reconstruct the struggles enclosed in the female body and to present their battles involving breaking though barriers in both private and public spheres. […]
Anatomy of an exhibition appearing a century ago The first solo exhibition of Tibor Boromisza in the Könyves Kálmán Salon MúzeumCafé 29. author: Katalin Török, arts critic, curator, Boromisza researcher A researcher can truly feel fortunate if the documents relating to an event which took place a century ago have not only survived but have also remained together. After several years of research, I came across such a find among the Boromisza papers held in Szentendre. In addition to extensive private papers, manuscripts and notes […]
Budapest’s lights and shadows The Budapest History Museum’s new permanent exhibition of city history MúzeumCafé 29. author: Roland Perényi, historian, BHM The Budapest History Museum (BHM) began preparing a new permanent exhibition of city history in 2008. The aim was that in place of the Budapest in Modern Times exhibition, which opened in 1995, a new city history exhibition created in the most up-to-date way would employ a unified approach to present the history of the […]
From storage to open display The Works of Art Project of the National Trust for Monuments MúzeumCafé 29. author: Kálmán Varga, director of the national trust for monuments Amidst the storms of the last century the chances for ‘survival’ for works of art which managed to get into public collections were greater than for those that didn’t. This is particularly true for the furnishings, art treasures and libraries of palaces and mansions. In 1981, according to the mansion project initiated in the late […]
Is there a need in Hungary for an independent museum of architecture, and if so what should it collect and how should it exhibit? MúzeumCafé 29. Pál Ritoók Art historian, National Office of Cultural Heritage, Hungarian Museum of Architecture: There is a great need for a museum of architecture in Hungary. Every country with a rich culture sooner or later sets up its own such institute. The aim would be to explain the development and importance of architecture’s social function, both […]
Museum mergers in France, Belgium and the Netherlands Múzeumok közös irányítás alatt Franciaországban, Belgiumban és Hollandiában MúzeumCafé 29. author: Orsolya Radványi The introduction of centralisation of institutions are sometimes seen as solutions. The Musée d’Orsay Established in 1986 from three fine arts collections the institute thus became a museum of fine and applied arts, as well as photography, from the period 1848-1914. Since 2004 the Musée d’Orsay has been a public institute under the direction of […]
Interview with professor of archaeology Géza Alföldy MúzeumCafé 25. author: Erzsébet Marton His theory about the construction of the Coliseum published in 1995 is accepted across the world. His book Römische Sozialgeschichte, originally published in 1975, appeared in a new edition this year. The work is on the compulsory reading list of universities and can be read in several languages. His fields of research include Roman society, […]