André Kertész, Brassaï, László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi, Robert Capa
Hungarian Masters of Photography
The first collaboration of ROSPHOTO with Hungarian Museum of Photography (Kecskemét)
This project embraces masterpieces of five world known photographers united by their Hungarian descent. André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, Brassaï, Martin Munkácsi, Robert Kapa — these names are symbolic to the history of photography of the XX century. Each of these names indicates a unique style and unparalleled way in photography that served as example to and inspired many a follower including masters of global scale.
Initially, the exhibition was put together in the framework of scrupulous research that compares biographies of the five famous photographers in search for coincidence, mutual influence, details that make them common or different. Having united the five names in one project its authors aimed primarily at celebrating the contribution of Hungarian masters to world photography. Furthermore, the project invites to analyze the cultural, ethnic and historical context and its influence on an artist's life and work. This makes the project especally interesting as it renders to the viewer a specific a system of coordinates using which we can 'localize' a photograph not only in time and space but also within the system of values and interests of a certain epoche.
Photography appeared in the time when cultural borders already started to fade, and thus the ways it chooses are barely influenced by the nationality of photographer and to a great extent depend on the cultural context of the epoche. This latter determines a lot, from the initial choice of photography as occupation, to specifics of development of creative activity, to the selection of a place for life and work. All five photographers united by the exhibition left their native country to achieve recognition in the West, and their destinations were predictable: Berlin with its boom of journalism, Paris as the cultural capitol, USA as the place to escape from the nazis during the Second World War. Following the photographers' biographies, we find the ideas and ideology of the time reflected in their work as it prescribed it certain ways of development, depending on their individual talents and interests. In the case of Munkácsi, success was brought about by the special feeling of the right moment, responsiveness and adventurism which all together allowed him to make the sensational photographs so sought for by the audience in the time of press industrialisation. For Kertész, the important qualities were his exceptional sensitivity to human conditions so in tune with humanistic tendencies of the second half of XX century. In the case of Brassaï , it was his ability to comprehend and interpret the surrealistic in the mundane. As to Robert Kapa, the world dependent by mid-century on visual evidence, praised him as the greatest war photographer who coined the rule of being as close as possible to the events. The work of Moholy-Nagy lies within a different field. His research of photography as means of seeing and production should be considered within the context of the 1920s – 1930s idea of total mobilization for construction of the future and rebuilding of the society.
Among works presented in the exhibition are those that have special value in scope of the life work of each of the photographer. Such are the first photograph of Kertesz, Munkasci's debut fashion shot, Kapa's D-Day photographs nearly perished in laboratory. Without an attempt of a retrospective, the exhibition rather indicates what each of the five great Hungarians gave to world photography.
Highlights
About the authors
André Kertész
[Andor Kertész ] (Budapest, 2 July 1894 – New York, 28 September 1985)
He graduated from a commercial high school in 1912 and then went to work at the Budapest Stock Exchange. He used his first salary to buy an ICA box camera, becoming an autodidact photographer. His friend Lászlу Chmura advised him on developing his pictures. In late 1914 he was enlisted; he took a Voigtlander in his pocket to the front. It was during the war that he took his first two pictures to be published in magazines. In 1927, he moved to Paris, exchanging the life of a Hungarian clerk for that of a Parisian artist. It was here that he achieved success with his profoundly humanist, subjective and unique style – a style that has rendered him one of the greatest photo-artists of all time. As Henri Cartier-Bresson said: “Whatever we have done, Kertész did first.” As a Hungarian emigre in Paris, Kertész worked for magazines such as Vu, Sunday Times (London), Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, and Uhu. He encouraged both Brassaп and Robert Capa to try their hand at photography. Kertész’s first exhibition was held in Paris in the Sacre du Printemps Gallery in 1927. In 1936, he travelled to America at the behest of Keystone Studios. He intended to stay just a few months, but the outbreak of war kept him there. From 1937 until 1949 he worked as a freelance photographer, receiving assignments from Look, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vogue. In 1944 he became a U.S. citizen. From 1963 until his death, he devoted himself to sorting out and publishing his life’s work, while continuing to take photographs. His work became highly acclaimed and he received many awards. During a 1984 visit to Hungary, Kertész received the Order of the Flag of the Hungarian People’s Republic. He is the first and only photographer thus far to have received this prestigious award. Following his death in New York, the André Kertész Photo Museum opened in Szigetbecse.
Brassaï
[Gyula Halász] (Brassу [Brasov], 9 September 1899 – Paris, 7 July 1984)
The artist, a native of Brassу (now Brasov, Romania), left Hungary for Berlin as a young man. He worked as a journalist and enrolled in a course at the Kunstgewerbschule. He met the famous painter Lajos Tihanyi, who became a good friend. In 1923 he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death. On his arrival in Paris Brassaï showed no interest in photography. He worked as a journalist and a painter. He developed good contacts with other Hungarian emigres. In 1925, a friend introduced him to the artwork of Atget. He was so taken by the pictures that he always considered the Parisian photographer to be an exemplar. In 1926 he became acquainted with André Kertész, whom he accompanied on his photographic trips. André Kertész taught him the basics of photography, but it was only in 1929 that Brassaï began taking general photographs. His Paris de nuit album (1931) attained international success. In his heart he always wanted to be an artist; this explains his use of the pseudonym Brassaï, which he used for his photographic work, while the name Halász was used for his paintings, which he hoped would establish his name for ever. In 1932, he published in the surrealist magazine Minotaure; it was then that he became befriended with Picasso. This friendship bore fruit in the form of a volume of interviews entitled Conversations with Picasso. From 1935 until 1947, Brassaï worked for the agency RAPHO. For several decades after 1937, he worked for Harper’s Bazaar. After the war he tried his hand at designing stage sets, working alongside artists such as Cocteau and Prevert. During the 1950s he also became involved in film, achieving several significant successes in this field: indeed, at the 1956 film festival in Cannes he won the award for most original film. In addition to numerous awards and prizes, in 1976 he received the French Order of Merit in recognition of his work.
László Moholy-Nagy
Bácsborsod, 20 July 1895 – Chicago, 24 November 1946
After graduating from high school in Szeged, László Moholy-Nagy moved to Budapest where he enrolled as a student of law. Following the outbreak of war, he became a soldier in 1915 and was seriously wounded in battle. It was during his stay at the military hospital that he began to draw and paint. In 1919 he was forced to flee to Austria, where he became acquainted with Kassák. This contact proved to be decisive for his life’s future course. With Kassák’s recommendation, he joined the Bauhaus in Germany. In Berlin, he met his first wife Lucia Schultz, from whom he learnt the techniques of photography. Aged twenty-six, he was asked by Gropius to teach at the Bauhaus; he helped to develop the theoretical programmes and image of the school. With his extensive photographic experience and theoretical knowledge, Moholy showed how it was possible to go beyond narrower compositions and use other means (such as light, shadow, space, mass, colour, and drawing) to expose new content. He was one of the first photographers to experiment with the photogram. He regarded the conscious application of photo-montage as a means of portraying reality in a novel manner. With the rise of fascism in Germany, he moved abroad. In 1937, he settled in Chicago (once again at the invitation of Gropius), where he helped to establish the New Bauhaus. When the New Bauhaus was dissolved, he established his own School of Design, which became the College of Design in 1944. He led the college until his premature death.
Martin Munkácsi
[Márton Munkácsi, Márton Mermelstein] (Kolozsvar, Austro-Hungary, May 18, 1896 – New York, July 13, 1963)
One of the world-famous Hungarian photographers and the founder of a fashion photography genre – which reached its zenith in the work of Avedon. With his parents and six siblings, Márton Munkácsimoved to Budapest at the age of fourteen. He left the family home – still as Márton Mermelstein – when he was sixteen. He worked as a painter and decorator, but he also wrote poetry and tried his hand at amateur drama. He then became a journalist, illustrating his articles with his own photographs. At the age of eighteen, he was already publishing articles on a regular basis. Alongside his journalistic career, he took up portrait photography, opening several studios in Budapest. From 1924 he took sport photographs for publications such as Est, Pesti Naplу, and Dйlibáb. As a sport photographer he attempted to produce novel and unusual compositions. Sometimes he would even climb onto a roof or up a fire ladder to ensure that his pictures were out of the ordinary. In 1928, he moved to Berlin; he was replaced at the Pesti Naplу by Károly Escher. Having joined Ullstein Verlag, he became a fast-moving photojournalist who was always there when something happened. He photographed Zeppelin’s airship and produced portraits of Leni Riefenstahl and Kemal Ataturk. While still in Hungary, he formulated his ideas about photojournalism: “To see within a thousandth of a second the things that indifferent people blindly pass by – this is the theory of the photo reportage. And the things we see within this thousandth of a second, we should then photograph during the next thousandth of a second – this is the practical side of the photo reportage.” In 1934, in the face of growing fascism, Munkácsiemigrated to the United States, where he soon became New York’s highest-paid photojournalist. His fashion photography for Harper’s Bazaar, Fortune, and Vogue rendered him the founder of a new style: it was he who brought motion and dynamism to this genre. John Esten referred to this style as the “Munkácsi movement”. He died of a heart attack while watching a football match.
Robert Capa
[Endre Ernő Friedmann] (Budapest, 22 October 1913 – Thai Binh, 25 May 1954)
Based on the still valid words of Stefan Lorant, Capa is the world’s greatest war photographer. One of Capa’s famous remarks was: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Having been influenced by Kassák, Capa became interested in journalism a year before his high school graduation. He began taking photographs in 1930. In the same year, he was arrested after taking part in a left-wing demonstration. He then had to leave the country. His first stop abroad was Berlin, where he became a student at the German Political College. Short of money, he took on a job in the darkroom of the Dephot photo agency, where he received his first Leica from Lászlу Gutmann. He was also given an assignment: to take a photograph of Trotsky at the socialist congress in Copenhagen. In 1933 he moved to Paris, where he tried his luck with a change of name. In 1936 he travelled to Spain, having been commissioned by Regards to photograph the revolution. His photograph Death of a loyalist soldier brought him recognition and has since become a photographic classic. Thereafter Capa never really stopped; he travelled to wherever there was an armed conflict. During World War II he took photographs in England, North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. On D-Day he accompanied the first U.S. troops to land on Omaha Beach. After the war he visited Hungary, where he showed a unique sensitivity in photographing the country’s post-war reconstruction and the slow but inevitable communist takeover. In 1947, he joined forces with David Seymour, Henri Cartier Bresson, and George Rodger to found Magnum Photos. In 1954, he was sent by Life to photograph the conflict in Indochina; he stepped on a landmine near Thai Binh and was fatally wounded.
