Soul and Body: Kertész to Mapplethorpe through the Eyes of the Greatest Masters of Photography is the broadest exhibition of photographs ever shown by the museum. It includes works from the Hungarian Photography Museum as well as many on loan from the George Eastman Collection, the Ludwig Museum of Cologne, MOMA in New York and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
The exhibition has been arranged according to subject: social affairs, portraits, still lifes, the human body, togetherness and destruction. Curator Péter Baki has skilfully used the groupings to highlight lesser known works by some of photography's biggest names. Robert Capa is represented in the exhibition not only by his famous war photographs, but by some striking images in the portraits section as well. Next to a portrait of his father by Imogen Cunningham, one of photography's early masters, are portraits of the homeless in New York. József Pécsi's expressive nudes are paired with a self-portrait reminiscent of the Renaissance. Moholy-Nagy's well known photograms are on display along with his realistic photographs.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is a photograph by the Hungarian Márton Munkácsi of boys wildly running into the water of Lake Tanganyika. The image is said to have inspired Henri Cartier-Bresson to take up a career in photography.
The exhibition offers the chance to reconsider one's approach to photography, an approach that has likely suffered the effects of our contemporary visual chaos.
Author: Eszter Götz
