The new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts is the first comprehensive presentation of the work of Hungarian émigré photographers in America. Realised in conjunction with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the large-scale exhibition featuring more than 30 photographers, including André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi and Robert Capa, seeks to present the extraordinarily rich Hungarian-American photographic legacy through the works of world-renowned artists and those less known in Hungary displayed side by side. The exhibition is organised as part of the Bartók Spring International Art Weeks.
Visitors can see a representativ selection from the oeuvres of Hungarian photographers who made America their home during the period historians often call the ‘short twentieth century’. The exhibition displays more than 170 works by 32 prominent Hungarian émigré artists who settled in America. Although not all of them achieved international fame, they all played a significant role in their respective photographic genres in America.
The influence of Hungarian émigrés on twentieth century photography is enormous. The impact of Robert Capa alone is impressive, but that of André Kertész, György Kepes and László Moholy-Nagy is equally significant. These artists directly or indirectly influenced a host of important photographers, from Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon and Aaron Siskind to Harry Callahan and Ray K. Metzker. Modernism and surrealism are deeply rooted in the aesthetic and technical approach of numerous Hungarian-born American photographers. Their impact on photography in the twentieth century is undeniable.
The influence of the Hungarian-American photographic connection and the Hungarian-born photographers who emigrated to America has been examined by few publications. Alex Nyerges, the director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, has been studying the Hungarian-American photographic connection for a decade, and the results of his research are presented for the first time here, at the Budapest exhibition.
In eight chapters, the exhibition examines the impact of Hungarian-born artists on American photography from their early careers in Hungary through Berlin and Paris, all the way to New York, Chicago and Hollywood. The presentation of this immense legacy takes visitors through various locations, as well as through the genres of photojournalism and fashion photography. The photographic selection made by the American and Hungarian curators is supplemented by photographs coming from Hungarian public and private collections to further diversify the displayed material.
The artists in the exhibition: Lucien Aigner, John Albok, André de Dienes, André Kertész, Arnold Eagle, Anna Barna, Ferenc Berkó, Cornell Capa, Orshi Drozdik, Jolán Gross-Bettelheim, Ferenc Haár, Miklós Ház, Béla Kálmán, György Kepes, László Kondor, Boldizsár Koráb, György Lőrinczy, Marion Palfi, Martin Munkácsi, Max Thorek, Michael Simon, László Moholy-Nagy, Nickolas Muray, Emery Revesz-Biro, Irma Bíró, Robert Capa, Kornél Somogyi, Deutch Stephen, Marcell Sternberger, Sylvia Plachy, Paula Weisz, László Willinger, Ylla – Kamilla Koffler
The curators of the exhibition are Alex Nyerges, the director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Péter Baki, the director of the Museum of Hungarian Photography.
The Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Capa… / Hungarian Photographers in America (1914–1989) exhibition will be on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest from 6 April 2024 to 25 August 2024.
