The conception of childhood in public sculpture of the 1980s through the analysis of four Hungarian sculptures

Abstract

Numerous studies and pieces of research have shown the validity of visual resources in education (Géczi, 2008, 2010a, 2010b; Somogyvári, 2012a, 2012b, 2015; Kéri, 2002, 2008; Darvai, 2010, 2011, 2019; Endrődy, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019; Támba, 2020a, 2020b; Portik, 2014; Farkas, 2022; Nemes-Wéber, 2020). It is essential to point out that such research is interdisciplinary. . We begin by analyzing paradigmatic formulations of Hungarian art history (Aradi, 1970, 1976; Andrási-Pataki-Szűcs-Zwickl, 1999) because these already show the crucial caesura. In addition, we also attempt to identify the concept of childhood conception (Ariès, 1987; Nóbik, 2000; Dombi, 2002; Golnhofer & Szabolcs, 2005; Pukánszky, 2008).Hungarian researchers in the past have mainly chosen to consider photos and paintings and no comprehensive methodological guidelines have been yet appeared on the possibilities of analyzing sculptures. In this research, we develop the conception of childhood in domestic sculpture of the 1980s through the examination of four works. We examine the available databases (Köztérkép.hu, Fortepan.hu, MTVA Archívum) for a possible concept of childhood narrative. The works were located along the period boundary suggested by Darvai and Somogyvári, between 1979-1989 (Darvai 2010, 2011, 2019; Somogyvári, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019). Our research method is iconography (see above), which in the Hungarian literature analyzes primarily photographs and to a lesser extent, other visual media (e.g. paintings, miniatures, cartoons). The 1980s are characterized by what has been called cultural nomadism, in which artists employ the free and conscious mixing of elements of various cultures and styles, not according to fixed rules. (Hegyi, 1990). The archaizing, folk line is typical of the results obtained from the databases, but non-figurative, stylized forms also appear. The research will expand the Hungarian literature with new methodological additions to the possibilities of processing visual sources.