A Budavári Tudományos Társaság és a magyar művészettörténet-írás helyzete az 1920-as években. Hekler Antal, Klebelsberg Kunó „szürke eminenciása”

Antal Hekler was a decisive figure of Hungarian art historiography in the interwar period. He occupied important offices as the heir to the country’s then only university department of art history (1918–1940), that is, the successor to Gyula Pasteiner; chief editor of the Archaeologiai Értesítő (1923–1940) also carrying art historical writings; the vice president of the National Archaeo-logical and Anthropological Society (later Hungarian Archaeological and Art Historical Society) (1920–1928); founder and editor of the bilingual Henszlmann-lapok (1927–1930); member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1920: corresponding, 1934: ordinary member). He was a close kin and shared deep intellectual orientation with the decisive cultural minister of the era, Kunó Klebelsberg. The accidentally surviving private letter (written by Hekler to Klebelsberg on 17 July 1921) allows a glimpse of this relationship. As there is a lot of relevance for the history of the study of art history in the letter, it is worth making it public. They tried to revive and normalize the cultural life of an impoverished, internationally isolated Hungary after the lost war, in which process Hekler was assigned an important role. Thanks to his links to the ministry, he arranged scholarships, channels of publication, sometimes jobs for his students (Andor Pigler, János Kapossy, later Jolán Balogh, Anna Zádor and many others).