Memories from Java: Ernő Zboray’s Collection at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts

Acta Neerlandica, 14 (2017) © Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó Vera Brittig Memories from Java: Ernő Zboray’s Collection at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts Abstract Ernő Zboray brought a set of wayang golek puppets along with other objects to Hungary from West Java in 1931. The collection was exhibited in the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts in the same year and received wide coverage in the contemporary press. Although there are some unanswered questions concerning the exact origin of these objects, the collection is relatively well-documented. The records of the 1931 exhibition survived in the Archives of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, provide a context which enables to view these pieces of art not as mere items from a strange world but as a set of objects that gave an insight into the traditional thinking of the people of Java. Keywords: museum collection, Java, wayang golek, Ernő Zboray, Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts Wayang theatre, the popular and spectacular artistic tradition from the late Dutch colony, the isle of Java, is represented in Hungarian public collections by the almost hundred-piece puppet collection of Ernő Zboray. These puppets have a history of more than eighty years and highlight the culture of this faraway island in the Ferenc Hopp Museum in Budapest from time to time. Ernő Zboray was born in Budapest in 1901. He left for Java in 1921 due to the difficult economic situation in Hungary where he had no perspectives. The circumstances of his travel and arrival can be read in 224 Vera Brittig Zboray’s own words: his first book published in 1924 describes his “adventures”. His book does not only evoke his experiences while travelling and his first impressions on Java, but also gives an insight into some typical traditions of Javanese culture. Zboray lived on Java from the age of twenty and spent almost all of his life there, he paid but few visits to Hungary and moved to the Netherlands only some years before he died. In the beginning, he worked as a supervisor on a rubber plantation but later he moved up the career ladder in the Javanese colonies. He met his wife with German ancestry on the ship that took him for his first visit at home in 1931. Their three children were all born in West Java. Today, descendants of the family live in the Netherlands. 1 It is most likely that Ernő Zboray acquired his West Javanese collection in the 1920s, while the puppet set at the end of this period. His collection was first exhibited in Budapest in 1931, but it was only later, in the middle of the 1960s that Hungary purchased it from his widow. Due to the museum regulations of the era, Zboray’s collection was divided – or so to say split – in two parts: one “half” was deposed in the Indonesia Collection of the Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, while the other “half” was assigned to a unit of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Budapest, called the India and Southeast Asia Collection at that time. It is now part of the separate Southeast Asia Collection of the Hopp Museum. The life and heritage of Ernő Zboray are worthy of consideration out of the field of museology, too: apart from the collection of objects surviving in our museums, his work as a writer is significant. He wrote three books, all of them inspired by his Javanese experiences. He also wrote numerous articles that were published regularly in daily newspapers and magazines from 1922 onwards. His writings are mostly of light style and are almost always based on personal experience; although readers can perceive the images and events of a most exotic world, that of tropical Java, Zboray consciously sought to avoid emphasizing the “exotic”, the details bizarre for the European eye. On the contrary, he strove to underline the specific elements of local arts and culture even if they sometimes seemed astonishing for the European readers; and in the light of the given environment and circumstances, to explain them the often strange and incomprehensible phenomena belonging to the real, everyday life of a faraway world. While the Hungarian journals of the age many times offered frightful stories and travel reports about these territories as entertainment (see for Memories from Java 225 example the articles of István Farkas published in Nemzeti Újság), Zboray’s writings show his effort to describe Javanese life as it is. It is no surprise that his accounts also compare the different cultures of here (Hungary) and there (Java), including the portrayal of some bizarre phenomena, but his goal is not to astonish readers but to draw attention to the humorous side of life and the comic situations deriving from the lack of local knowledge of a stranger arriving in a faraway land. For example, in the chapter called Traditions of the natives, life of the village of his second book published in 1936 he writes the following about the peculiarities of everyday life in Java: It is well-known that all stars under the meridian rise and set at right angles to the horizon and that the constellations South and North to the meridian can be seen the other way round. […] This reversed universe seems as though it has been taken over by the natives, since we can see it all the time that the brown sons of Java do the opposite in many cases to what the white children of the West do. For example, the natives sit down out of respect and do not speak to Europeans with their hats off for the sake of respect, too. Men cover their head all the time, while women rarely wear a shawl when going out. […] Many things happen that are found ridiculous and weird only at a superficial glance. Behind many strange customs there appear the traditions of centuries which, in my opinion, deserve our respect as much as other civilized peoples’ habits. 2 Zboray’s collection kept in our museums also reflect his intention of getting the public acquainted with another, faraway land. The most important group of objects of his collection is a set of wayang golek puppets accompanied by the musical instruments of a gamelan ensemble; it is, moreover, complemented with some textiles, arms, and several objects made of copper. With respect to museum collections, it is not the outstanding quality or rarity that makes Zboray’s set of puppets worthy of consideration, as there are several collections with equal or better quality for example in Dutch museums. As Tibor Bodrogi put it at the beginning of the 1980s: it is its detailed documentation that makes it unique, the inventory of the name of each puppet of the collection 3 . The basic information about an object (name, collection, purchase, date and place of origin, collector, etc) is preferably known at the moment when the object enters a museum collection. However, in the practice of museology there are several objects or smaller collections where this knowledge is only scarcely or partially established; that is, these objects are not identified, 226 Vera Brittig their age, origin, and many times function are not clear. Zboray’s set of (wayang) puppets are valuable from this very perspective, as it is relatively well-documented. 4 Even though there are some unanswered questions concerning the origin of these objects, the place of their fabrication, and the circumstances of their collection, it is undoubted that by the time the set reached Hungary, the names of each puppet and character were given. It was this previously collected information together with Zboray’s writings about the topic that provided the context for the puppets’ first exhibition; the context which enabled to view them not as mere items from a strange world but as a set of objects that gave an insight to visitors in the traditional thinking of Javanese people. The Javanese wayang tradition The concept of wayang is known from the Indonesian islands, mainly from Java and Bali. In Western languages it is usually translated as shadow play, puppet show, shadow theatre, puppetry. These terms are clear and definite for us; in general, puppetry refers to the plays for children in our minds. The expression wayang, however, is used in a far broader sense. 5 Wayang can refer to the play itself, to the story on stage, or even to the puppets. Although there is no doubt that the shadow play (wayang kulit) is the most popular and – we can say – the most spectacular version, there exist several other types, too. For example, versions performed by dancers (wayang orang or wayang wong), presented on rolls (wayang beber) or by flat wooden puppets (wayang klitik, wayang krucil). In the present case, what is called wayang golek refers to plays performed by threedimensional wooden rod puppets. Although the different versions can appear anywhere in Java, they are typically connected to a certain geographical area. Shadow play (wayang kulit) for example is popular mainly in Central and Eastern Java, along the Northern shores of Java, and in Bali and Lombok, while wayang golek is well liked in Western Java; again, further differentiation of subtypes is made in these areas. Different types are classed not only by the material of the puppets but by the stories played, too. The earliest stories are considered those adapting the two great Indian epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana on stage; 6 these are called purwa or wayang purwa stories. Thus, the shadow plays based on the Indian epics are called wayang kulit purwa, while the same stories Memories from Java 227 played with three-dimensional wooden rod puppets are called wayang golek purwa. Zboray’s set of puppets falls into this latter category. There exist stories originating from Eastern Java that were created during a certain period, stories that were taken over by the spread of Islam, or recently, Christian wayang with several subtypes, as well as different versions created by political purpose. The popular plays of Bali and Lombok also developed along local traditions to gain their present forms. In light of the earliest sources, it is clear that wayang goes back to an ancient tradition. Its diversity becomes visible by the mere listing of the most common versions, not to mention the different occasions and celebrations when wayang is performed, the strict order of performances, and the rites and still living traditions related to them. Traditionally, wayang theatre played an important role in Javanese culture: apart from providing public entertainment on main events and thus, reflecting current problems, the stories performed helped maintain the myths of the population. Wayang theatre is basically the mutual product of several branches of art: one man, the puppet master, that is, the dalang controls them to create a whole. Dalangs are much respected among the Javanese up to these days. Music is an integral part of the performance and is provided by the gamelan orchestra. Musicians and occasionally the singers are also conducted by the puppeteer who manipulates the puppets, creates their voice, and narrates the story in one person. In conclusion, wayang is a composite genre that incorporates different religious traditions and is based on an elaborate symbolism. Like Ernő Zboray put it in his writing about the symbolism of the accessories of the performances in 1924: “There must be some deeper sense in all this, for if it was simple puppetry, it would not have survived the tempests of centuries unchanged.” 7 In 1931, Ernő Zboray arrived in Hungary with a wayang golek set that followed Western Javanese tradition and highlighted local culture with its rich symbolism. 8 Zboray offered to exhibit this set of puppets along with other objects of his collection at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts. According to the documents of the time, 9 the current director of the museum, Zoltán Felvinczi Takács supported the idea as he found the collection highly suitable for the purpose of representing Indonesian culture. Young Zboray, who was only 30 years old at this time, had already published several articles about wayang in general. It is important to note, however, that his writings basically discussed the shadow plays and not 228 Vera Brittig the three-dimensional golek type. What is more, some articles about his collection were published before the exhibition. The expression wayang was not new to the Hungarian public back then: it was not only theatre journals that described it in brief reviews, but Hungarian travelogues also mentioned it in daily newspapers or magazines. In an issue of Vasárnapi Újság in November 1897, Ferenc Reményi reported about his theatrical experiences while travelling in West Java, which described a wayang wong performance. In addition to this, he briefly presented the different genres of wayang as well. 10 In 1926, the weekly newspaper Színházi Élet published Kálmán Ungváry’s article about the wayang orang dance performance at the sultan’s court in Yogyakarta (Java) where the author lived. 11 It is puppet theatre that is highlighted in the theatrical special issue of Magyar Iparművészet (Hungarian Applied Arts) in 1914, which presents wayang as the Javanese shadow theatre: it is that little theatre in which flat figures cut out of a single piece of leather play some stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana accompanied by the sounds of a music so painfully monotone, while their shadows are cast on the white screen. 12 In the sixth issue of the same year, Loránd Orbók writes the following about the Javanese genre in his article about puppetry: The figures move behind a stretched cloth that is lit from behind, while the performance is accompanied by music and singing. This is the solution for cinema from three thousand years ago! 13 In the Színészeti Lexikon (Lexicon of Acting) (1930), the expression Javanese wayang is mentioned at the entry for Shadow plays, 14 however, this genre is discussed at length at Shadow theatre. 15 The wayang golek version is mentioned as well at the entry for Puppetry. 16 At the initiation of the Hungarian artists, Géza Blattner and Dénes Rónai, the term wayang also appeared in connection with the puppet shows entitled Wayang Plays performed at Belvárosi Színház in 1919. Nevertheless, only the title was borrowed from Javanese tradition, while the plays and puppets themselves were European. 17 The expression wayang did not become widespread in Hungary. The question of what it might mean was asked the most cleverly by Frigyes Karinthy, the Memories from Java 229 renowned Hungarian author and poet, who commented the Budapest puppet shows of 1919 this way: Words will be followed by deeds. Who said it would do it. Who says wayang, will say bayang. And there will be someone who executes it – and there will be, oh, will be someone who finally tells, explains, elaborates, discovers, uncovers, whispers, manifests, announces, admits, unveils, proves, and establishes what on earth this wayang is, publicised on posters, and just for what and how? 18 The Wayang Plays of Belvárosi Színház did not go down very well but must have left a mark in the public, as two years later in 1921, Antal Németh wrote in Magyar Helikon that “we would like to see them […] restored.” In connection with the art of puppetry, he also touched upon the original, Javanese wayang and its influence on modern European puppet art. 19 Zboray’s collection and the reactions to its exhibition in contemporary press Due to these events, at the time when the first exhibition of Ernő Zboray’s collection opened at the Ferenc Hopp Museum in December 1931, the visitors could have been familiar with the expression wayang to some extent. Moreover, they could have also known about Zboray’s collection, as the news about it started to spread in the middle of the year. The Pester Lloyd expressed its appreciation for Ernő Zboray’s collection at the end of June 1931. 20 The writer of the article mostly praised his consistent and systematic work as a collector who strived for completion, which was very rare in the world of planters. According to the author, the scientific value of Zboray’s collection lied in this. What is more, the objects reflected the way of thinking of the Sundanese of West Java. One of the Sunday issues of Nemzeti Újság in July published an article about the collection entitled Javanese museum in Logody Street: Wayang puppets, Naga dragons, a complete Gamelan orchestra, and other exotic marvel in a house in Buda. 21 The writer expressed his great enthusiasm about the Indonesian objects of art and the collector himself, Ernő Zboray, who “had brought with him an entire museum” in which the most important piece was the wayang set, since “Every object is a fine piece of art which reflects the immeasurable charm of a whole ancient culture.” 230 Vera Brittig According to the article, the collection featured several subtly fashioned, characteristically Indonesian objects and even a three-meter long, stuffed crocodile. By the time of August, these papers (Pester Lloyd, Nemzeti Újság) reported 22 that on the basis of their articles, Dutch papers got interested in Zboray’s exceptional collection: their articles not only praised its cultural historical and ethnographic value, but also discussed the possibility of its exhibition in the Netherlands. In the issue of 24 July of a newspaper in Amsterdam, Algemeen Handelsblad, an article 23 was published with the title “Eene Wajang-Tentoonstelling te Boedapest” about the exhibition planned to open at the Ferenc Hopp Museum in October. The very same article was published in the “Art” section of the Surabaya-based (East Java) newspaper De Indische Courant on 19 August. 24 In the theatrical weekly Délibáb, two articles by Andor Tiszay discussed Zboray’s collection. His interview with Zboray who spent many years in “one of the world’s most beautiful and special islands, in the home of eternal summer” was published in October with the title “Malay theatre” 25 , which presented contemporary Malay and Batavian theatre. His other article published in December and entitled “Puppet prima donnas” 26 focused entirely on wayang. The author could not hide his fascination about wayang plays and Eastern art as well. In Magyar Hírlap, an exhibition teaser article was published on 16 December entitled “Premiere of the Indian marionette theatre in Budapest: The 2500 years old Mahabharata epic is played by puppetactors”. 27 The journalist introduced the characters of the wayang play as a real theatrical company before he revealed that he wrote about puppet figures carved of wood. More information about the exhibition itself was provided in the review of Edgár Pálóczi published in Műgyűjtő and entitled Wayang. 28 Here we can read that “On the wall, there hang in soldierly order the generals, warriors, gods, mutual women, the wise, and the minor characters of two puppet armies ready to fight the great battle on stage.” 29 Apart from Pálóczi’s article, there exist no other descriptions on how the exhibition looked like in its final form. One of the issues of Nemzeti Magazin published in January, 30 however, offers some more insight, as it contained a one-page photo report about the exhibition. In the Archives of the Ferenc Hopp Museum, too, there remained a photo in the exhibition documentation 31 that captured the installation of the exhibition. Basically, this photo provides the most detailed information on Memories from Java 231 the final realization, especially when compared with the lists created for the exhibition that are also kept in the documentation. Zboray’s lists and the exhibition in 1931 On the basis of the articles, photos, and the documents kept in the Archives of the Ferenc Hopp Museum, there emerges an image of the concept of the exhibition that shows an effort to present not only pieces of art taken out of their environment, but also the original setting and function of the wayang set. That is to say, with proper interpretation, an 80-90-piece set of puppets does not “only” provide viewers with an aesthetic and visual experience; a set of such a wide range of characters is not only capable of presenting the role of each of them, but also their attitude to, and relationship with the others, especially if they are installed in the same way as they would look like in their original stage setting. If the puppets appear together as a set, they not only express symbolic meaning carried by their features like bulgy eyes and red cheeks that usually express wrath and anger, but appearing together they also represent local stories, due to which viewers are brought closer to an unknown world. Moreover, it is important to note that acquiring a full set of puppets presupposes a well thought-out intention of the collector, as – considering its size, for example – the transportation of such a large set of objects is quite difficult from Java to Budapest. Ernő Zboray did not participate in the organisation of the exhibition, as he returned to Java in autumn 1931. Thus, the exposition was curated and opened by Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, director of the museum on 20 December 1931. The presentation of the objects, however, makes it clear that during the creation of the exhibition, Zoltán Felvinczi Takács followed Zboray’s instructions. At the time of its first exhibition in 1931, Zboray’s wayang golek set consisted of 85 three-dimensional wooden rod puppets and 33 flat puppets made of leather that functioned as parts of the scenery and stage accessories; on the basis of the numbers, it can be considered as a full set. 32 As for their style and type, the puppets unquestionably originate from West Java, from Sundanese territory and the characters of the set are created to play the stories of the great Indian epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana. Thus, the set belongs to the wayang golek purwa type. 238 Vera Brittig P. Gy. 1931. ‘Indiai marionett-színház bemutatója – Budapesten: A 2500 éves Mahabharata-époszt játszatják le a báb-színtársulattal.’ Magyar Hírlap. 16.12.1931: 4. Pálóczi, Edgár 1931. ‘Wayang.’ Műgyűjtő. 5.11-12: 251-252. Pusztai, Gábor & Termorshuizen, Gerard 2001. ‘Ernő Zboray: Een Hongaar op Java.’ Acta Neerlandica. 2001.1: 195-215. Reményi, Ferencz 1897. ‘Nehány nap Jáva szigetén: Naplójegyzetek.’ Vasárnapi Újság. 14.11.1897: 766-770. Team Senawangi (ed.). 1990. ‚Gunungan’ Ensiklopedi Wayang Indonesia. Jakarta: Sekretariat Nasional Pewayangan Indonesia (Senawangi), II, 611-615. Tiszay, Andor 1931. ‘Maláji színház.’ Délibáb. 5.41: 28-32. Tiszay,Andor 1931. ‘Baba primadonnák.’ Délibáb. 5.51-52: 14-17. Unghváry, Kálmán 1926. ‘Egy évig próbálták és négy teljes napig játszották a jávai „főuri mükedvelők” a világirodalom leghosszabb színjátékát.’ Színházi Élet 16.17: 31. Weintraub, Andrew N. 2004. Power Plays: Wayang Golek Puppet Theater of West Java, Athens: Ohio University Press, Ohio University research in international studies. Southeast Asia series; no. 110. Zboray, Ernő 1924. Az örök nyár hazájában. Budapest: VilágirodalomKiadás. Zboray, Ernő 1936. Tizenöt év Jáva szigetén. Budapest: Természettudományi Társulat (Természettudományi Könyvkiadó Vállalat, 105). 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