SUMMARY – 2013/2.

Vol. 2/2013 of Fotóművészet begins with an interview with Loren László very young author of photo blog maismonsieur.com by Sándor Bacskai. “For me the blog seems to be the most appropriate solution because it can be updated at any time. I am not thinking about a photo exhibition, I don’t feel the whole thing to be that serious, nor would I be able to afford it. On the other hand the photo blog is not a particularly big idea, I just had to find an impressive sounding name (mais monsieur meaning “now, now Sir”) and to create a website, then go on uploading the pictures. I haven’t had any particularly express purpose with it, I did not intend to plant myself in front of the world pretending come on I am such a great artist, I did not want to hit the headlines. Of course I am happy that the blog has made a name for itself, I was a bit taken aback that contrary to acting, drawing and fashion photographing, this time I have got positive feedbacks.”

In Unknown heroes Virág Böröczfy comments on Miklós Gulyás’s photo series Promenade: “Photos made by Gulyás so far have been made mostly in Budapest. And yet one cannot maintain that his objective is to present simply the city, but this attitude is typical of his pictures made so far and to the subjective documentary school in general. He perceives simple reality elements visible to anybody, and he puts them into the new context system of photographing. What has changed since the era of black-and-white photographs? The most striking is perhaps the way as elements put together like a montage, become parts of a new vision, which is the creator’s own vision of the place, the city he is living in.”

János Palotai reports on the exhibition – Naked man in Ludwig Museum: “Following the baroque painting, the idyll of antique mythologies reappeared on the early photograph, hereby “exposing” the (homo) eroticism, e.g. with Wilhelm Gloeden, Guglielmo Plüschow. Matthew Barney present series puts male lovers into the costume of satyr play. Close to it on David La Chapelle’ s baroque like packed photo two half-naked gleaming celebs are posing bored, in the background, complying with the triangle composition, a woman clad in purple diving suit is showing off herself, her light-coloured bikini draws the attention to her sexual points, – in vain, she is just an object of the room. Gilbert George’s elderly male pair is not idealised. One can see not only the penis but also the anus, as well as the enlarged photo of the sperms. The red background is “covered” with banknotes (Spunk Money)”.

In The Bruntál universe Mihály Surányi presents Jindřich Štreit: “How is it possible, that someone who is known as documentary photographer in the world, became world-famous thanks to a photo published of one district? Is this Bruntál district so large, have such world-shaking events happened there? Are photos made there more important than an Olympic photo-finish or the VIP photo about signing a political agreement? Certainly not. Štreit is considering the profoundness of human nature … He knows very well that we are full of sin, failures, and beauties. And he is also aware that all this is arranged so in man that it can never be foreseen when, what would surface. He knows we are rich even if we ignore the fact.”

György Szegő visited the exhibition 21 photographers from the 20th century collected from the Körmendi–Csák Photo Collection: “These are emblematic works. Yes, they are works because it was this “Great generation” which achieved that the Hungarian museum institutions, too, accepted the photograph as visual art. I see the pictures of my generation; these were branded into my feelings.” Twenty-one photographers and their works: Demeter Balla: Marks 1. (1994), András Bánkuti: The 1st National Meeting of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, Budapest (1989), Imre Benkő: Gorkij Park, Moscow, (1987), Tamás Féner: Synagogue in the courtyard of the house, Budapest (1981), Endre Friedmann: Faces of Death, Budapest (1963), Miklós Gulyás: Szenes Hanna Park, Budapest (1999), József Hajdú: Industrial area, Budapest III., Gázgyár u. 3. (1994), László Haris: Illegal avantgarde, József V Molnár (1971), Károly Hemző: Ferenc Puskás (1954), Judit M Horváth: Another World, Budapest (1990), Péter Horváth: Telephone booth (1981), Antal Jokesz: Light-sensitive dream (1979), Gábor Kerekes: 1st May (1983), Péter Korniss: Lads having good time in the dance hall (1967), György Stalter: Another World, Hangony (1994), András Szebeni: Naomi and Helen (2004), Lenke Szilágyi: Viewing picture (1991) Péter Tímár: Crematorium, Budapest (1981), László török: The family (1972), Tamás Urbán: D.F., the Butterfly (1989-90), Magdolna Vékás: Underground-Novoktogon-Senna-Bathroom (1995).

In Paris fair hit the roof Anne Kotzan reports on the great gathering of photographic galleries and publishers, namely the Paris Photo 2012 in last November: “There were amazingly lot of young people devoted to photography among the visitors. By now it became obvious that moving to the exclusive and spacious palace in 2011 has been beneficial to the fair. Significant increase in the number of visitors had been registered already in the first year, but this number continued to increase, namely the number of those interested in the event has increased to 54 154 this year. The number of participating galleries has been higher than last year, namely 128 galleries and 23 publishers from 22 countries put on show their exhibits under the large glass dome.

Emőke Tomsics’s photo historical essay scrutinises the Reception of André Kertész in Hungary: The history of Andrés Kertész’s “admission” started in the 1960’s, together with other Hungarian artists acknowledged abroad. Their “renationalisation” was a sign and consequence of the Kádar’s dictatorship becoming “softer”, and the parallelism of cautious opening of foreign policy to the West manifested in György Aczél’s cultural policy. … The presentation of the leftism of Hungarian artists living abroad – this way that of Kertész – participating at the exhibitions, was ”compulsory figure” for critics reviewing and commenting on the exhibitions. The pressure to comply with the ideological principles, the requirement for commitment to socialist ideas – its unintentional or intentional supposition – caused the systematically recurrent coupling of Kertész approaching “humanly” to his subjects and the politician, of the sociophoto relying on the documentary strength of the photographs.”

The series of articles – Photographs in country collections – reports on the results of a project aimed at mapping the source-place – photographic collections in local museums, libraries, archives and church organisations – of the Hungarian photo culture and history. In the present part dealing with Békés and Tolna counties Klára Szarka reports on photographic objects found in the Tessedik Sámuel Museum, in the Munkácsy Mihály Museum of Békés County, in the Szántó Kovács János Regional Museum in Orosháza, in the Babits Mihály Memorial House in Szekszárd and in the Völgységi Museum in Bonyhád.

Zoltán Fejér’s article about photo-technique deals with the British-Swiss made Compass camera presented in the late 1930s: “Noel Pemberton Billing believed a perfect photo camera should not be bigger than a matchbox or a cigarette-box. Although he had made a sketch of the camera, but it was followed by six-year designing-implementing work. In 1935 and 1936 Billing entrenched his invention with British patents. But the designing of the camera using 290 components proved such a complicated work, that no British company was willing to manufacture it. It was then that the Swiss clockmaker Jacques-David LeCoultre famous for his technical interest came on the scene.

New Albums on Péter Tímár’s Bookshelf: Hans-Michael Koetzle: Photographers A–Z; Photo Box (Bringing the Great Photographers into Focus); Gábor Sióréti: Shadow Town; Progressive seeking of ways and means – Studio of Young Photo Artists 1977 – 2012.