Hungary Between the Wars: A Photographic Portrait P é t e r B a k i The Thomas Walther Collection at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, contains thirty-two photographs by eight Hungarian or Hungarian-born photographers: George Kepes (György Kepes), István Kerny, André Kertész (Andor Kertész), Imre Kinszki, László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi (Márton Munkácsi), Gyula Pap, and József Pécsi. All of these photographers were important artists in the interwar period, both in Hungary and internationally. Several monographs have already been published in English on the better-known photographers, and a large part of their work is to be found outside Hungary (particularly the oeuvres of Kepes, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, and Munkácsi). Therefore, it is often easier to research these photogra- phers in the major museums of Western Europe and North America. This essay focuses on the period prior to emigra- tion, investigating the artistic and social milieus of the photographers while they were still working in Hungary. It also seeks to clarify some of the data pertaining to the photo- graphs in the Walther Collection and to offer insights, based on primary sources, of the photos’ origins. In the early years of the twentieth century, Budapest was the venue for several photography exhibitions that greatly influenced public taste and drew people’s attention to the medium. The international photography exhibition that opened in 1910 at the Műcsarnok (Art hall) in Budapest exemplifies the manner in which Hungarian photographers sought to shape public taste. This exhibition demonstrated for the first time in Hungary that photography could achieve broad artistic recognition and that art critics were prepared to accept it as an artistic medium.1 The new century saw the establishment of Hungary’s first amateur photography clubs, which in many cases supported artistic progress in opposition to the conservatism of professional photog- raphers and studio owners. However, relative to other countries in Central Europe, photography clubs were rather late to develop in Hungary. Moreover, their members were often drawn from the aristocracy and influenced by German culture. The outdated aesthetic ideals of the clubs tended to put off the young photographers of the era. Indeed, Kertész, Munkácsi, and Pécsi kept their distance. World War I resulted in a fundamental shift in Hungarian photography. After the war, Hungarian photog- raphers struggled to reintegrate themselves into the mainstream of international photography. In October 1918, fig. 1 André Kertész. Magda Förstner. 1926. Gelatin silver print, c. 1929. Image: 3 9/16 × István Tisza, the former Hungarian prime minister, acknowl- 1 ½" (9.1 × 3.8 cm); sheet: 5 ⅛ × 1 11/16" (13 × 4.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther (MoMA 1731.2001). edged in Parliament that Austria-Hungary had lost the war. © Estate of André Kertész Baki 1 His announcement was followed by a series of political and of the newspaper in 1915. Three prizes were subsequently military developments in Hungary. Mihály Károlyi became awarded, for a total of 3,000 Austro-Hungarian krones, a prime minister (he was later photographed by Kertész large sum in Hungary at the time. At first, photographs as an émigré in Paris), and shortly thereafter the Hungarian submitted in the contest appeared on the front or back page Communist Party was formed and a proletarian dictator- of the newspaper; later, the editors established a separate ship — the “Republic of the Councils,” or Hungarian Soviet photography column. Among those submitting pictures, a Republic — was established. The armed forces of the neigh- number would become well known in Hungary and abroad. boring countries launched offensives against the Hungarian For example, participants in the fourth contest included Soviet Republic. After its fall and a series of short-lived gov- Kerny and Kertész, both of whose works feature in the ernments, Miklós Horthy took power as Regent of Hungary Walther Collection. in 1920. This marked the beginning of the so-called Horthy Kertész’s success as a photographer continued in 1917, era, with its conservative worldview and authoritarian power when two of his pictures were published in Az Érdekes Újság.3 structures. The Treaty of Trianon that year reduced Hungary He had enrolled as a volunteer ensign in the Twenty-Sixth to a third of its former size, while the number of inhabitants Infantry in 1914. Initially, he was deployed on the Polish front, fell to 43 percent of its prewar population.2 where he took his first photographs of scenes behind the During World War I, apart from Vasárnapi Újság lines.4 On several occasions during the war, Kertész sent pic- (Sunday newspaper), none of the Hungarian weekly newspa- tures to the press. In 1916, he submitted a self-portrait taken pers had the resources to employ staff as war photographers. at the front to a contest of drawings and photographs held Their only option was to publish photographs taken by by the humor magazine Borsszem Jankó (Johnny Peppercorn). soldiers at the front. Az Érdekes Újság (The interesting news- In the photo, Kertész is sitting by a stream removing lice paper) held contests with the aim of obtaining the best from his clothes. The visual setting reflects his earlier photo- battlefield shots. The first was announced in the third issue graphic approach during the years spent in the village of Szigetbecse, when he had taken photographs using a tripod, and with an ironic, humorous twist. However, this particular image is noteworthy for the fact that — unlike most of the other contestants — Kertész made no effort to show the hor- rors of war. In the end, his picture came ninth among the ten that received an award.5 In September 1925, Kertész, thirty years old, moved to Paris against his mother’s wishes. Soon after his arrival in the French capital, he changed his name to André. Concerning this name change, Kertész wrote the following: “Andor is the name given on my birth certificate, but my wife always calls me Andris, while my brothers and friends call me Bandi. In Paris I automatically began using the French version of my name — André. And I now think this is the name I shall die with.”6 It was during his first years in Paris that Kertész made a series of pictures featuring cabaret performer Magda Förstner. Two photographs from this series are in the Walther Collection: Magda Förstner (fig. 1) and Magda, Mme Beöthy, M. Beöthy, and Unknown Guest, Paris (MoMA 1732.2001). There has been a debate about the dating of Kertész’s pictures of Förstner, the most famous of which, Satiric Dancer (fig. 2), was taken in the studio of sculptor István Beöthy. Contrary to the findings of previous research- ers and to the recollection of Kertész, the photos of Förstner appear to have been all taken in 1927. First, we have docu- mentary evidence that Förstner took part in two events in Hungary: on October 23, 1926, a performance of Új Föld estek (New Earth evenings) directed by Ödön Palasovszky and, on December 2, 1928, an evening of literary readings by Lajos Kassák at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest — between these events, however, she performed in Paris.7 fig. 2 André Kertész. Satiric Dancer. 1927. Gelatin silver print, c. 1980s, 10 × 8" (25.3 × 20.3 cm). Hungarian Museum of Photography, Kecskemét. © Estate of André Kertész According to the art historian Gabriella Vincze, who has Baki 2 researched Hungarian dance in the period, Förstner did not women photographers with significant oeuvres and influ- visit Paris before 1927. In that year, however, she took part ence. They included Éva Besnyő, who had been a pupil of in a series of performances abroad, visiting Paris twice Pécsi; Kata Kálmán, who published Tiborc, one of the most and going on a tour of Scandinavia.8 Second, art historian important photography books of the period;15 and Rózsi Krisztina Passuth included in her monograph on Beöthy Klein, who later married André Kertész and worked in Paris the statue that features on the left side of Satiric Dancer.9 using the name Rogi André.16 Those young Hungarians with Beöthy mentions 1927 as the year in which he created this an interest in modern photography and a desire to learn sculpture, titled Action directe, Heros.10 Given the timing of from the progressive masters tended to move to Germany, Förstner’s visit to Paris and the date of the statue, we may often attending courses at the Bauhaus.17 One example is conclude that the photograph was indeed taken in 1927. Pap, who later became a teacher at Johannes Itten’s private The dating of the other two pictures to 1927 rests on the school in Berlin and generally taught drawing. On several likelihood that the photographs were made in the same occasions in the latter half of the 1920s, Pap photographed evening: the dancer is wearing the same clothes in all three metal objects that he himself had designed, and his print in images, and at least two of the pictures feature Beöthy or the Walther Collection is part of this series.18 In photographs were taken in his studio.11 of the so-called globe vase and Saturn vase, he examined In the aftermath of World War I, several photographic the light reflections of nickel-plated objects.19 genres and styles developed in Hungary, with only partial In general, however, at this time the prevailing main- overlap and interaction. As elsewhere in Europe, photog- stream art in Hungary was averse to modernism. There was raphers began to specialize. Hungarian art photography no press coverage of several crucial photography exhibitions developed in a rather unique fashion, and this uniqueness and publications.