SUMMARY

Paul Almásy is a medium who leaves the truth to make an impression as a dramatic completeness amalgamated of contradictions. If you are able to hit upon a picture in the chaos as Almásy does, your pictures mean – so to speak – the points of a sphere. On the geometrical body of the cosmos of order, completeness can be read together with the unique picture – contends György Szegő correspondent of FOTÓMŰVÉSZET. At an exhibition in the Ernst Museum, Szegő inspects more closely some of Almásy's photos (the portrays of Jacques Prévert, Breton, Giacometti or of a Zulu woman, or the Jewish cemetery in Marrakesh, or road crossings in Vietnam etc.).

"Photo jamateur and tragedian" is the title of Marcell Pécsi's interview with Antal Farkas nicknamed "Jama". Originally, the Kecskemét-based photo artist did not want to become a photographer, and the role of being merely a photographer is still alien to him. This is why his pictures cannot be compared with others' photos: on his portrays and still-lifes he formulates, creates and re-interprets paintings by Mondrian, Cèzanne, Modigliani and others. "To me photography is like poetry…a little bit of absurdity is detectable on each of my photos. To keep the viewer in constant uncerta-inty, it is my objective" says Jama.

In "Hortobágy symphony" Miklós Losonci art historian comments on a collection of photos by photo artist János Ilku: "On his photos everything – a hillock, a tree, or a ditch – is an altar; an ' existenceless', unstoppable holy service." This collection of photographs help discover a strange law, namely the silence of the prairie enables you to be present at the same time everywhere.

The "…Mesiac Fotografie Slovensko" or the Month of Photography was held for the tenth time last autumn in Bratislava; more than 300 exhibitions were organised over the past ten years. Hungarian Contemporary Photography has been a regular "player" of that event, last year Hungary was represented by Péter Korniss . Péter Baki and Orsolya Szabó report on that series of exhibitions, and publish an interview with Chief Organiser Václav Macek.

György Szegő visited an exhibition of François-Marie Banier in the Ludwig Museum. Hungarian-born Banier, earlier known as novelist and playwright, by now a correspondent of The New Yorker, hid his photos from the public for about thirty years. First in 1991 at the age of 44 he published an album of his selected photos. Here are a few names from this photo collection: Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Horowitz, Federico Fellini, Queen Elisabeth II.

Csilla B. Horváth museologist of the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs, presents a collection of photographs made in the early 20th century by Béla Hernai (Hesz) teacher from Baranya county. Hernai made more than seven hundred 9 cm x 12 cm glass negatives of the Hungarian, Serb and German civil population, soldiers as well as the main buildings in Véménd and in its neighbourhood.

How could the fear of the camera developed in some people's mentality? What are researchers to do that "informants", like ethnographic, anthropological documentation or photos could be prepared for popular scientific exhibitions without making damage to the people living in the currently studied culture? – Tamás Régi tries to find an answer to those questions in "The soul robber".

"About one of us or all of us" is the title of Sándor Tamásy's obituary by Károly Kincses. The photographer from Király street had attended the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as press photographer. His studio having been nationalised after WW II, we was working in a FÉNYSZÖV studio, and despite the "Iron Curtain" he participated on a number of international photo exhibitions.

Vladimír Birgus and Jan Mlcoch present the photographs of modern Czech avant-garde. Subheadings of the sections are From the pictorialism to the avant-garde; Abstract and non-figurative trends; The new photography; Avant-garde and advertising; Socio-photo in the thirties; The surrealist photography.

The latest part of a series of articles by Zoltán Fejér about the history of Hungarian photo industry, is related to the film making, this time it is a story about Imre Ujváry lens designer.

Gábor Pfisztner's interview with Antal Jokesz about his exhibition after an interval of many years. Jokesz says in the interview: "I haven't done photography under pressure… The myth of "great moment" was broken twenty years ago within me. Well-shot pictures and great moments do not appeal to me… the same story and the same moment, if seen from another aspect of the space, may have different meaning offering the freedom of interpretation."

Vali Fekete visited Paul Almásy in his home in the outskirts of Paris. They were talking sometimes Hungarian sometimes French, glancing through the old artist's favourite photos made of lovers, celebrities, children or workers which are kept in a separate album. "I have had an interest in all sorts of things", he notes.

Rodolf Hervé's obituary by Péter Baki. Many people have said many things about Hervé: he is painter, writer, film-maker, photographer, musicians and performer – all this is true. Some remember  the young man riding a motorcycle in leather jacket, others the musician, and someone else the graphic designer; neither could pieces of his oeuvre be arranged in boxes.