Hungarian Pottery, Politics and Identity: Re-presenting the Ceramic Art of Margit Kovács (1902–77)

Abstract

This article traces the opportunities and constraints that shaped the long career of the Hungarian ceramic artist Margit Kovács (1902–77) who first came to prominence in the interwar period and subsequently assumed iconic status in the communist People's Republic of Hungary. The trajectory of her training, career and reputation is compared with that of other Hungarian ceramists who were equally successful in the interwar period, notably Eva Zeisel and Lili Markus, both of whom had left Hungary by 1939. Such comparisons point to the limitations of constructing national histories of craft, and to the lack of a common frame of reference that could demonstrate the continuities between interwar and postwar ceramic art in Hungary.