SUMMARY 2009/3

The first article in the present issue of Fotóművészet is an interview Sándor Bacskai made with Normantas Paulius photo artist. Paulius born in Liuthiania but living for long in Hungary, has travelled many times to the Himalayas and to South-East Asia. In the interview, however, interviewer and interviewee are talking not only about Paulius’ journeys but also about photographers of the Hymalayas, digital photographing and poetry. Title of the interview is: When enlarging a photo, I stroke a face.

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In For the second time” Gábor Pfisztner reports on the this year’s Dunaújváros Photo Biennial. “Comparing this year’s competition works with those submitted two years ago, one cannot notice any difference hinting at the emergence of new trends or the existence of new perspectives.” István Krajnik’s series was judged by the jurors to be the most remarkable among the exhibited photos, and it won the Biennial’s first prize. Two special prizes of the Lux Galéria were awarded to Noémi Fekete and Krisztina Erdei.

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In Natura vita György Szegő reviews Attila Pácser’s pictures: “The title of key photograph is Double picture, 5.25 p.m. Namely, as a good encyclopaedist, Pácser indicates the date of taking, in the title of each picture. This picture was made through the window of his apartment. The window used to be that of a famous daylight photographic studio by the end of the 19th century. You can see the same roofs as back in that time, but meanwhile the ‘time river’ of the city has swept away so much ‘gravel’ that it would be self-delusion to believe in the chance of stepping into the same fixing (bath).”

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Antal Jokesz starts his report on the photo exhibition Képhiba (Picture failure) asking the question: “Any reasonable concept would consistently reckon with the unpredictable, and in the course of realisation it would with a good chance fuse it with the possible elements, as well. However, should the accidental turn of circumstances, their getting on to the picture be taken as failure or normality in the course of the creation? And, whether can the concept in which we won’t come across any surprise, but just things already known, seen, the redundant elements are multiplied, be a failure?”

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The subject of Goethe, Hegel, washing machine by György Cséka is Ágnes Eperjesi’s exhibition: “Színügyek (Colour affairs) is a work which can be considered a scientific research, as well, that mixes complex different mediums, often crossing their boundaries, that often questions, overwrites the notion of conventional work, that consists of mixed, once static, then interactive works in regard of its relationship to the recipient, that is open, self-reflective, interpretable in many ways, sometimes crossing the boundaries of art. In my view it is one of the most monumental, most impressive exhibition of the Hungarian photographic and fine arts world in 2009.”

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In “Pictures found by instinct” Virág Böröczfy comments on Lilla Szász’s photos: “In her photo series Vágy (Wish) she tries to map instincts and emotional relations influencing the forming of human identity. She makes mostly close-up shot portraits, concentrating on the person; she subordinates all the other picture elements to the contents to be expressed from the point of view of the subject. Lyrically, using deliberately earlier photographic conventions, she is talking about passionate often tormenting varieties of sensual and spiritual relations.

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Ferenc Markovics commemorates the death of Zsolt Szabóky photo artist who passed away last May. The title of the obituary is “Resolutely and committed. Subjective obituary, with period data. “I leave it to the end what he would never have told this way, because it was totally natural: all the time he was serving the Hungarian culture and he goes on doing it with his works of eternal value.”

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Péter Fritz makes his comments about György Tóth’s exhibition – Body language: “György Tóth uses deliberate means in the artistic creation of the photo. Undeniably, black-and-white photographing has got by now such an artistic force , an abstract impression remote from reality, which – contrary to the “true to nature” sensation of colour photo – becomes for itself a means of artistic creation. In his case crab, double exposure are not a possibility for itself, instead it is the expression of the mystery, the enigma of woman’s body, as well.

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In Large range of subjects and a strange feeling of want Klára Szarka comments on the exhibition Crisis indicators: “The photo show has become timely by chance – where emphasis is placed on the European and North-American aspects of the 20th century’s world crisis – since, while writing this article, we are showered with alarming news about the present economic world crisis.”

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In La Pequeńa Rubia Sári Stenczer presents Robert Capa’s onetime partner Gerda Taro who died young. “Their relationship which was based on emotional, destiny and spiritual complicity, shaping and helping each other, is an extremely important element in the history of photography. Inspiring each other, they started working together as equals: the girl became Capa’s ambitious manager, and at least for a while she managed to hold his inclination to gambling inherited from his father, and the extremities of his recklessness typical to people left without roots, at bay.

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Around the turn of the years 2008 and 2009 the collection of photos re-presenting Robert Capa’s activity was given to the Hungarian National Museum to enrich its collection. Beatrix Cs. Lengyel reports on this significant event: “It is important because it has again turned the attention of cultural decision makers and the culture-minded public to the fact that Hungary is a great power in the field of photography; there are photo- graphers we can rely on their work, or focus our attention to their life and learn from it, namely that we should try to keep as many as possible of our young talented photographers at home, to keep an eye on them, to help them, to strengthen their attachment to their motherland.”

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This is the last part of Endre Schwanner’s series – Social Column. The photo documents revive the memory of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Budapest Photo Club (1974), André Kertész’s awards in Budapest (1984), openings of exhibitions of Yevgenij Yevtushenko, Lász-ló Fejes, Endre Rácz Jr. and József Tóth (Füles magazine), as well as the World Photo exhibition (Robert Capa, Yousuf Karsh).

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Here is an excerpt from an article – György Gadányi’s collection in the József Borsos’ exhibition in the Hungarian National Gallery – by Zsuzsa Farkas: The question comes up where Hungarian photographers used to buy their equipment. Borsos had the first machinery delivered from Vienna. Other Hungarian photographers, Antal Simonyi, Lipót Strelisky, György Mayer, used to travel abroad, and they, too, purchased the steadily improved technical equipment, and learned to use them.

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Zoltán Fejér’s writing is about “A series of colour slides (Dufaycolor) made seventy years ago. “For long I used to believe: The family portrait series is interesting because of the way of making it. Right after starting collecting literature to this article I realized the amateur photographer is not an ordinary person. Dr. Alfréd Enyedi-Prediger served as army surgeon in 1939 in Rákoscsaba. It was in that time, in April 1939, that he made a series of slides of members of his family.”

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Some chapter headings of the forth part of Attila Montvai’s series on photo-technology – The relationship between the measurable and visible parameters of photography (Technological basics of digital picture generation): Creation of the initial data set – Parameter assessment – The secrets of interpolation – Changing of picture-size – Secondary picture manipulation – Optical and perspective corrections.

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