SUMMARY– 2018/4

Béla Albertini: The History of Hungarian Photography
August 1919 - June 1941, Part 2 The Patterns of the Kaleidoscope In his second article about the history of Hungarian photography, Béla Albertini places two things in focus. In the first part of the article, he takes a look at the organisations established at the dawn of the 20th century: the circumstances of their creation, their social background, and the activities they performed. The second part of the article reviews events and news illustrated with relevant photos that were published in the Hungarian press around 1920. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in that year, and judging by the press coverage, life was becoming increasingly exciting in Budapest.

Andrea Bordács: Women are Beautiful and Likeable
Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center of Budapest held an ambitious exhibition from the works of Garry Winogrand. The material selected from the works of the '60s and '70s was titled "Women are Beautiful". Winogrand?'s bias for women is beyond doubt - but what was the aesthete's perspective on the exhibition, well-versed in the past and present of feminism? In her article, Andrea Bordács examines Winogrand's pictures and relation to the fair sex in the context of the feminist literature of the age. The article does not discuss in detail the entirety of the questions that might arise, but it highlights those that merit further thought for today's visitors regarding Winograd's mentality.

György Cséka: The Order of Illusion - On the Art of Gábor Ősz
Part 2
Gábor Ősz is an outstanding figure of both Hungarian and international photography. Section 2 of György Cséka's article published in this number analyses some of Gábor Ősz's series with passion and expertise. Cséka is not interested in chronology; what he wishes to point out is connections between the individual series, their different perspectives and the consequent shifts in the photographer's attitude. The article clearly and vividly introduces the reader to Gábor Ősz's relation to picture and photography as well as to the questions the artist seeks to explore.

Orsolya ELEK: The photographer is a human being primarily. Conversation with the French photographer, Samuel Gratacap
Following the exhibitions of Henk Wildschut and Ai Weiwei, the Foam Museum presented for the third time a solo show that directly addresses the current reality of migration through artistic reflection. Samuel Gratacap's solo exhibition was presented in Amsterdam between 15 June and 9 September 2018. In this occasion, we met with the French photographer in Paris where he has been living since 2014 and talked about the evolution of his career, the possibilities of photography, and the relationship between artistic creation and politics

Gábor Ebli: A museum quality corporate collection
In its series on the market of photography, Fotóművészet presents this time a Czech corporate collection. With its nearly 2000 photographs by Czech and Slovak artists, the Prague-based PPF Collection represents the overall development of this medium from late 19th-century pictorialism to today's discursive positions. Beyond running a diversified exhibition programme in two galleries in the Czech capital - one of them is a historical monument, the former studio of Josef Sudek - PPF also arranges selections of the collection to be shown in other locations, most recently as an official event of the Month of Photography in Bratislava (Slovakia), which is the starting point of this text in examining the collaboration of institutional actors with the aim of elevating photography to a higher rank in East Central Europe, too.

Zsuzsanna Farkas: Hungarian Photograph Collectors
Interview with Márton Áron Borda
Márton Áron Borda is the owner of two significant collections. The bigger one is the Recto-Verso catalogue, which contains about 10,000 pictures comprising the front and back sides of photographs (and their variants) made by photographers who once lived in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The other one, a personal collection, contains pictures taken from 1860 to 1920 and is guided mainly by personal preferences. Zsuzsanna Farkas's interview with the collector touches upon the history and evolution of the collections and the responsible management of the relationship with Hungarian fellow collectors and the institutional network. The article also mentions Márton Áron Borda's next project and elaborates on the changes induced by digitalisation as well as the collectors'? changed habits.

Zoltán Fejér: TDC Stereo Vivid, the Creative Assistant
The small film camera called Stereo Vivid was developed in the 1960s in the United States by Three Dimension Company in cooperation with Stereocraft Engineering Company. A stereo camera is an exciting rarity in itself, but this Vivid camera involves specific technological solutions that make it truly unique in its kind. Zoltán Fejér introduces the reader to the technical details of the camera through an expert lens and illustrates his article with some remarkable pictures.

Beatrix Philpott: György Mayer and the beginnings of Fine Art Nude Photography in Hungary
Beatrix Philpott's article presents the artistic activity of Budapest-based photographer György Mayer. The starting point of the article is six stereo photos of nude models from the early 1860s. While on the one hand, the presentation of naked bodies in photographs was desirable from the perspective of collectors, it was also reprehensible from the legal aspect. The article begins with a short overview of the international references of the attitude to fine art nude photography and the situation in Hungary before moving on to discuss the stereo photos made by György Mayer and Mayer's artistic activity in the field. During the discussion of the Hungarian demand for nude photographs and pornographic pictures, Árpád Horváts'?s collection of pornographic photographs is also mentioned. That Árpád Horváth's name has survived is due - among others - to the fact that he was the second husband of Júlia Szendrei, Sándor Petofi's widowed wife.

Sándor Szilágyi about Writing the History of Photography
Reporter: Mihály Surányi
The need for a history of Hungarian photography crops up from time to time both in professional and amateur circles. At a conference named after the above subject and organised by the Hungarian Academy of Arts, Sándor Szilágyi outlined his proposal in brief. As he did not have an opportunity to elaborate on this extraordinary proposal at that time and place, Fotóművészet interviewed him on his ideas. Providing answers to the questions raised in the interview would be quintessential - their elaboration will be the task of the times ahead.

Balázs Zoltán Tóth: Bálint Flesch: From Documentarism to Arrangement
Bálint Flesch is a unique figure in Hungarian photography. His career followed the same path as that of numerous contemporaries: he was very active in the '70s and '80s and belonged to the most progressive group of Hungarian photographers, but then he put an end to his career as a photographer. Balázs Zoltán Tóth reviews Flesch's series and works, the curator of the exhibition organised by the artist's oeuvres in the Hungarian Museum of Photography.

Klára TŐRY: Comment to the book of Orsolya Péntek: A magyar fotó 1840-1989 (The Hungarian photography 1840-1989)
An attractive, richly illustrated book was published from Orsolya Péntek with the title: A Magyar fotó 1840-1989 /. In Klára Tory's recension, the author meticulously and passionately analysed the book partly from the methodology point of view and partly from the factual point of view. The detailed comment list, compiled by the author, is accessible online on the homepage of the magazine.