SUMMARY– 2020/2

Béla Albertini: Hungarian photography history series, August 1919 – June 1941 - Part eight*
The magazine titled A fény {The Light} and aimed at photographers was discontinued in 1918 in Hungary. A new magazine for this audience was only launched on the spring of 1921 with the title Fotóművészeti Hírek {Photography News}. This article does not only reflect on the launch of the magazine and the work leading up to it; while describing the beginnings of the magazine he also discusses the first writings that credit photography with the appearance of the national character.

Štěpánka Bieleszová: The photography collection of the Olomouc Museum of Art - Jindřich Štyrský (1899–1942)
Jindřich Štyrský did not live a long life; however, he was among the photographers who actively shaped the development of Czech avant-garde photography. Even everyday life hides surreal details; however, his true genre was collage. To celebrate his creations displayed in the Olomouc Museum of Art, we are taking a look at Štyrský's world via writing by Štěpánka Bieleszová, the curator of the collection.

György Cséka: How to use Photography – the oeuvre of Péter Tímár
Péter Tímár's name is inseparable from the history of Hungarian photography war in the '70s. He filled a large variety of roles, such as creator, organiser, educator, and editor, defining the image and attitude of each institution he worked at for several years afterwards. This is probably the reason why he has only now begun organising his life's work. György Cséka reviews this oeuvre in his writing, concentrating on Péter Tímár as the creator and photographer.

Gábor Ébli: Dad is with us – Contemporary photography in the collection of Péter Szép
Passing away unexpectedly in 2015, businessman Péter Szép had been collecting art from his college years in the early 1990s on. First engaged, due to family tradition, in applied art, he soon moved on to modern and contemporary art. Following his first photo acquisition in 2008, he built up a photo-based and new media collection ranging from vintage prints of the 1970s to fresh works reflecting on current issues of gender, society and concepts of art. Now in their mid-teens, his daughters continue to love these compositions.

Zsuzsa Farkas: Hungarian private collectors - Interview Miklós Grégász
Miklós Grégász is primarily driven by his love for the objects when collecting them, whether we are talking about matchbox labels or photographs. This is the reason why his collection seems to be conceptless and why it includes some exceedingly rare and extraordinary pieces. In this article, Zsuzsa Farkas writes about a private collection, revealing that Grégász is a collector who will passionately share his objects and knowledge about the period and circumstances that they come from.

Zoltán Fejér: The stamp
The backside of photographs can often offer exciting surprises. We all know the current requirements of the annotation. However, when we are talking about the practice before the digital word when pictures have submitted to magazines or international exhibitions by post, stamps serve this purpose well too. Zoltán Fejér presents some unique stamps in his article.

Zoltán Fejér: A "radiantly beautiful" objective
In this article by Zoltán Fejér, the author write about an apparatus developed and manufactured by Kodak for the American military to take photographs from the air. This particular task required unique engineering solutions from designers. It also explains how a lens can be radiant.

Judit Gellér: Photography Books - Discussions II. "Editing takes time" - Eszter Bíró: Fragments and Recipe Book
Eszter Bíró won the Pál Rosti Award handed out by the Hungarian National Museum, which aimed to reward the author of the best photography book every second year. Judit Gellér interviewed the artist on the book, the awarded works of art, and the way leading to their creation.

Borbála Jász: Edges - on Sára Sebestyén's photography exhibit titled Élek {Edges}
This exhibition by Sára Sebestyén was only open for a short time in the FUGA before the pandemic broke out. However, it is available to visit once again. In her article, Borbála Jász primarily intends to answer the following questions: what was it that drove the artist to create this visual world with so few tools, how does this all relate to the modernist traditions of photography, and how can these traditions be referenced in the 21st century?

Z. Márió Nemes: Self-improvement - digital self-portraits in the photographic art of Gáspár Riskó
In the past few years, Gáspár Riskó has worked on several series the theme of which was himself. It raises the question: to what extent do his series from before this period are about the artist himself and to what extent are they about the visual themes depicted? Z. Márió Nemes analyses Gáspár Riskó's pictures in this article, also putting Riskó's artistic approach in a broader international and contemporary context.

János Palotai: In Zoom: two defences in the master's degree programme (MOME)
In 2020, two master's thesis defences were held at the MOME, as the circumstances demanded in the Zoom. Both candidates, Hanna Rédling and Vivien Miron-Vilidár worked on highly personal topics. János Palotai wrote a summary analysis of their work and the preparations.

Zsolt Petrányi: End of the world or rebirth? - The journey of photography in 90's Japan
The nineties brought the Japanese economy to a halt. After several decades of soaring innovation, the feeling of sudden decline became prevalent. However, for the young people of the time, this was primarily an opportunity for change. Cultural trends became less restrained with the advent of the digital age, allowing various styles to coexist. Digital photography as a medium simultaneously became an essential experience of the generation and a way to rebel. This was the environment and the decade in which the four photographers lived, who created the works discussed by Zsolt Petrányi in this article. The works of Naoya Hatakeyama, Takashi Homma, Toshio Shibata, Yurie Nagashima or Nabouyoshi Araki are hard to compare; however, they collectively tell a lot about how this generation processed their place in history and thus their situation.

Klára Szarka: Disciplined attention - Ferenc Rédei - Photojournalism Lifetime Achievement Award 2020
This year, Ferenc Rédei was the winner of the Photojournalism Lifetime Achievement Award. This writing by Klára Szarka introduces the reader not only to Ferenc Rédei's work as a photojournalist and a photo editor but depicts a wider image of the environment, in which the photojournalism of the 70s, 80s, and 90s was created and how pictures became parts of journalism in their own rights.