Count Rudolf Festetics and his Oceanic Collection Count Rudolf Festetics and his Oceanic CollectionBy Judit Antoni The contact between Europe and the South Seas evolved at a relatively late date. The first period of discoveries began with Spanish and Portuguese explorers in search of spices and gold in the 16th/17th centuries. English and French voyages followed them from the early 18th century. From the scientific point of view, James Cook’s expeditions (between 1768 and 1780) can be regarded as the greatest achievements of this period, which ended in the 1830’s. Cook’s journeys awakened an interest in the culture of the inhabitants of the isles and the number of expeditions increased. In the earlier 19th century grand tours around the world became very fashionable: many collections of different museums were based on objects brought back by these travellers. More affluent museums in Europe (like Germany, France, Great Britain or even Austria) organised expeditions to specific regions, including the Pacific. At the end of the 19th century there were several art dealers and private collectors who conducted their activities in collaboration with newly founded museums. The situation in Hungary was different: Hungary never had any colonies, so the only viable option for us until the close of World War I and the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was to participate in research projects lead by Austrians. Count Rudolf Festetics on the yacht Le Tolna Hungarian research in Oceania was practically unknown prior to Festetics’s journey. Festetics, like many other young people was fascinated by the accounts of travellers and the idea to “discover” something and was also motivated by the love of adventure. Lieutenant Festetics Rudolf (about 1893) The Festetics family was one of the best-known in Hungary. The family originated from Croatia, settled in Hungary in the early 17th century and received the title of count in 1766. Rudolf was born in Paris in 1865 when his father was working in Versailles as a chamberlain. He studied in Vienna and after graduation served as a Hussar lieutenant in Hungary. After his service in the army he travelled in Europe and then journeyed to the United States, where the handsome, well-educated count soon became the favourite of the local finance aristocracy. Eila Butterworth Haggin and The newlywed Count and Countess Eila Butterworth Haggin and The newlywed Count and Countess In 1892 he married Eila Butterworth Haggin, the granddaughter of James Ben Ali Haggin a California gold rush millionaire rancher. From the dowry, he commissioned Matthew Turner in San Francisco to build the seventy-six ton “Tolna” yacht, with which he and his wife went on a honeymoon the next October. Between 1893 and 1898 they visited most island groups of the Pacific, until the “Tolna” shipwrecked in the Maldives in 1900. The sailing yacht Le Tolna Map showing the voyage of Le Tolna from San Francisco through the South Pacific, Australia, north to Japan and down through Indonesia ending in the Maldives. The voyage began with the mutiny of the crew - former pirates - who wanted to take the couple as hostages and imprison them on an uninhabited island. Festetics managed to prevent this and delivered the mutineers to the authorities in Hawaii. The remainder of their journey was full of adventures: extreme situations, more mutinies, tempests interspersed with dangerous expeditions on the islands. Countess Festetics learns plaiting techniques, New Georgia, Roviana Lagoon In 1899 his wife, Eila left him in Singapore and returned to the United States and later divorced him. The count continued the journey to Ceylon until his ship stranded at Minicoy Island (Maldives) in 1900 where Festetics had to empty the vessel: “The crates containing my collection were all at least 3 or 4 m2 and there were 56 of them.” The boxes were sent back to Vienna and Festetics offered a great part of them in 1902 as a present to the Hungarian people: “may this be a modest proof of the devotion and loyalty I always felt towards my country during the years spent in distant islands.” He promised to later complement this donation with the rest of the collection but the outbreak of the World War I prevented him from realising his plan. His villa at Antibes (near Nice in France) was seized together with all the valuables in it by the French authorities because Festetics, being subject of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, was considered as enemy. All his possessions were sequestrated and after the war sold at auction. Stephen Chauvet The collection was bought in 1920 by Stephen Chauvet who then became the owner of one of the largest collections of Oceania in France. Later he exchanged many of the objects with other collectors (private and museums), so the original Festetics collection was dispersed in Europe and America. Chauvet absorbed the objects from the Festetics-collection into his own --without noting their origin--and later were left it to the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. At present, The Ethnographical Museum in Budapest owns about 1500 objects, the Musée de l’Homme (actually Musée du quai Branly/Jacques Chirac) in Paris has about 500 pieces, there are approximately 120 objects in the museum at La Rochelle, 20 pieces at Rouen and some objects in Lyon, Cherbourg, the Musée d’Art modern in Paris and in Geneva, Switzerland. All these numbers are only estimates until the efficient research concerning the origin of the objects verified. Later, in the 1970s, some exchanges between the Ethnographical Museum, Budapest and private collectors were made resulting in several objects from Festetics appearing in other museums or private collections. For the occasion of our exhibition of the Festetics collection in Paris, Musée du quai Branly in 2007/2008, Roger Boulay and I tried to gather all we could find concerning the objects and their history but the research is still ongoing. The Ethnographical Museum in Budapest possessed before 1910 only two really important Oceanic collections, both from Hungarian researchers who worked in north-east New Guinea in the German colonial period. These being Samuel Fenichel who collected 2460 objects between 1891-1893 and Lajos Bíró 5650 pieces from 1896-1901. Collected objects from the Admiralty Islands When the Festetics collection arrived in Hungary in 1902, the first person to appreciate the donation was János Jankó, the director of the Ethnographic Department of the Hungarian National Museum (the predecessor of the Ethnographical Museum). He wrote an article, summarizing the importance of the collection, mentioning, that the greater part of the objects originated from Melanesia, with most of the larger island groups are represented, and thus complimented Fenichel and Bíró’s material from New Guinea. Woman and men in festive dress, Fiji. Jankó recorded the provenance and the number of objects, for example there were 60 pieces from Polynesia, including Hawaii, Penrhyn, Rakahanga, Manihiki, Tahiti, Tubuai, Cook, Samoa and Ellice. From the originally 1460 inventoried objects - about 1400 came from Melanesia, among others: the New Hebrides (145); the Solomon Islands were represented by 729 objects (including Santa Cruz), the Bismarck Archipelago by 94 objects and the Admiralty Islands by 345 pieces. New Ireland, Kapsu: from left: 1. the wife of the trader in Kapsu, 2. the trader of Kapsu, 3. the wife of the trader of Nusa, 4. the trader of Nusa, 5. Herr Rippe, the employé of the Museum in Berlin Unfortunately the natural history collection of the count was destroyed in Hungary during the 1956 Revolution. Of the material collected in the Solomon Islands, (on the west coast of Bougainville), only the description and the painting of previously unknown bird species done by Gyula Madarász survived in the scientific periodical “Booklets on Nature” published in 1902. Festetics was an enthusiastic photographer and donated the photos he took on the voyage (originally 466 glass negatives) to the Ethnographical Museum as well. After his long journey he returned to Vienna where he wrote his travelogue in two volumes, published in French by Plon-Nourrit, in 1903 and 1904. Most of the above-mentioned photos are reproduced in these books. The photos - in better quality – will also be published with comments in a Hungarian and English version this year. Lunch: Count and Countess Festetics with the crew of "Tolna" near the River Visari, Viti Levu, Fiji The king of the Admiralty Islands wearing his apron made of shell beads, used as money on the island Although Festetics was not an expert in ethnology or photography - at that time these subjects were not fully developed - he did everything he could to gather a collection that reflects the diversity of the cultures on the islands he visited. His collection is valuable even without precise data not only for the museum visitors, but for the descendants of the local peoples making efforts to find their roots. His aim to show all the objects for the museum audience in Hungary has not yet really been fulfilled--until now there have been only two small exhibitions in Hungary, one in Tahiti (only photos from Polynesia) and the last, somewhat larger in Paris, in 2007/2008. I think it’s high time to publish these photos and objects to give everyone the opportunity to see them. Some publications on the subject: Festetics de Tolna, Cte Rodolphe: 1903: Chez les cannibales. Huit ans de croisiere dans l’Océan Pacific a bord du yacht “Le Tolna”. Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie. 1904: Vers l’écueil de Minicoy apres huit ans dans l’Océan Pacifique et Indien a bord du yacht “Le Tolna”. Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie Antoni, J.: 2004: In Search of Adventure: Count Rudolf Festetics and the Tolna’s Journeys in the Pacific. (Tribal 2004 IX:1/6: 52-59 - in French and English version) Antoni, J. and Boulay, R.: 2007: L’aristocrate et ses cannibales. Le voyage en Océanie du Comte Festetics de Tolna, 1893-1896. (Musée du quai Branly, Actes Sud) Dance mask, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago Wooden bowl, Admiralty Islands Festive apron made of shell-money beads. Admiralty Islands
