Eyewitness : Hungarian Photography at the Royal Academy of Arts

Eyewitness : Hungarian Photography at the Royal Academy of Arts
(London – June to October 2011)

Exhibition entrance

  

As I entered the Royal Academy, I sensed a certain presence; this historic building in Central London is at the heart of the British art establishment and yet this is the first time I have seen a photographic exhibition here although at the Academy’s annual summer exhibition, photographs are routinely shown. One wondered as to what might be so special or important about the Hungarian contribution to photography to necessitate an exhibition of it’s own and by the end of the exhibition, I still found myself considering this question; certainly, the Hungarian influence on the development of photography is considerable and needs to be noted but I was not entirely convinced by the argument put forward although it is surprising to consider the number of Hungarians active in photography resulting in the exhibition reading rather like a history of photography.

The exhibition offered the chance to hire an audio-guide that really helped to enjoy the event; instead of having to read captions, one was able to listen to informed people describing the significance of the images on show. I was struck by the quality of the prints, done on silver gelatin, revealing a good range of tones. In fact, photography in Hungary was considered something of a fine art with Rudolf Balogh being an accomplished exponent at the beginning of the twentieth century. In spite of concern for detail and aesthetics, photography was regarded as primarily a tool of communication rather than an art tool.

Inside the exhibition

For example, the female photographer K. Sugar, who focuses on the peasant population at a time when most people did not recognize them as a social grouping because there were so many of them, made fine photographs of them revealing them with fascinating detail.

Andre Kertesz, one of the great Hungarian photographers, was self taught (his initial images are somewhat amateurish) yet portrays his subjects in an endearing way; for instance, there are three images of musicians side by side in the exhibition. He was active from after the First World War onwards. At the age of only 16, he made a remarkably composed photograph of a sleeping boy; lines apparent in the design of the photograph cross each other over the boy’s face. Interestingly, it was later in life that Kertesz revisited the photograph and altered the framing to make an even more striking image.

Another photographer who was also to leave Hungary was Munkacsi who was an established professional specializing in sports photography. His image of a racing car might not look very much by today’s standards of auto-focus, high ISO and fast motorwinds but in 1929, it was almost impossible to catch such action; the image is also beautifully composed.

One series of images that catches the eye, is those made during the war by unknown soldiers although their names are recorded. They were encouraged to make images of front line warfare and send them to a newspaper for possible inclusion and even prizes. One haunting image in this style is of a dead body lying in the snow with three Ravens in attendance nearby. These are the beginnings of photojournalism showing the horrors of war (trenches with damaged equipment and dead horses) yet not without humour (a dog on a mountain top has a pair of binoculars placed before his eyes).

Jozsef Pecsi was a Hungarian photographer who specialized in advertising and wrote a book on the subject that was published in 1930. Kati Homa experimented with photo-montage which is evident in her double-exposed image of a female face in the wall beside a staircase. It was perhaps the need to work with basic materials that encouraged such innovation.

Hungary itself fared badly in the various trials and tribulations of the twentieth century. After the first World War, Hungary had lost 72% of it’s territory and 64% of it’s people.

One noticeable feature of Hungarian photography from this era is the habit of looking down, usually at an angle of about 45 degrees, on the world below; there is one such image of a group of nuns walking along the side of a road in which the photographer turns the image into almost an abstract form owing the head gear worn by the nuns while another “looking down” image is of Winchester College by Cornell Capa, the brother of the famous Robert Capa. Cornell Capa is often overlooked as he did much to keep his brother’s memory alive but it was he who set up an institution that was later to become the International Centre for Photography in New York. There was the idea that photography could become a tool for good in the world and help to make it a better place.

Another great Hungarian photographer who went on to be a significant part of the Bauhaus movement, was Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. He experimented with photo-processes such as photograms and his publication “Painting, Photography, Film” emphasises the need for photography to meet the requirements of realistic representation in which representation could itself be an act of creation; painting was considered to be more concerned with colour and composition.

Brassai, another great Hungarian photographer who was eventually honoured by the French, worked a great deal in Paris. Recording the seedy nightlife was part of his work and one image stands out, that of a bejeweled woman alone in the corner of a restaurant, her claw-like hands encrusted with jewels. One may question this person’s sexuality, her femininity is questionable, but the image is not about that rather it is concerned with her overall appearance and presence.

Brassai was to photograph Picasso with whom he developed a life long friendship; there is a wonderful image in the exhibition of Picasso seated by the most extraordinary stove with a curving metal chimney yet in spite of the fine metalwork, it is Picasso who stands out. He managed to discover the surreal in the everyday and unwittingly became known as a surrealist.

When Munkacsi went to America, he expected to become a sports photographer as he had been before in Europe. However, he made an image of a model running rather than standing still while working on an assignment for a fashion magazine and this image not only made him famous but started something of a revolution in photography. He turned what was often a joyless, static, studio-bound approach into something much more lively.

Another famous Hungarian photographer was Robert Capa who might have become better known if his life had not been cut short by a landmine. Some of his best known photographs are those from Dunkirk made during the Second World War. They were largely ruined by an inexperienced lab technician yet the surviving images add to the eeriness of the occasion. After the War, Capa became one of the founders of the Magnum photo-agency.

Kertesz had a great eye for a photograph. Some of his images are very imaginative and personal such as his lonely cloud, a single cloud juxtaposed with a high-rise building. Another is of a “pigeon landing” where the form of the pigeon is seen amidst the back drop of a building. Towards the end of his life, after the death of his wife and having been inactive in photography for awhile, Kertesz was given a Polaroid camera by someone and he began making subtle colour images which seem to be more about his life and his mental state.

Following the Second World War, photography in Hungary became concerned with socialist realism and this lead to repression within the art of photography. The work of Peter Korniss is noticeable during the 1970’s and 1980’s; he managed to fulfill the brief of getting close to his subjects. One witty image from this time is by Lasglo Fejes of a Christ figure in a church beside which stands a camera; the image is entitled “Suffering Christ” a comment perhaps on the suffering that photography has the capacity to record and expose. By the end of the 1980’s, the year 1987 is cited, Hungarian photography ceased to reveal uniquely Hungarian qualities as it came under the influence of globalization and so the exhibition ends at this point. There is a final noticeable image of a fallen communist relic made by a Hungarian from New York.

outside the Royal Academy of Arts, London

One of the most contentious images in the exhibition is of Robert Capa’s fallen soldier about which much has been written. Was it staged? Recent research has shown that it may well not have been owing to records made at that time yet the argument continues. The exhibition however does not dwell on this image merely mention it’s significance for above all, it presents a wide array of excellently executed black and white photographs that cover many significant aspects of nineteenth century Europe as well as the development of the photographic medium of this time. It also reminds us of the part Hungarian photographers played in all this, something that should not be underemphasized or overemphasized for that matter. As it happens, one of the world's leading nature photographers is Bence Matte, a young Hungarian with an individual approach.