Appendix: photojournalism, social photography and documentary in the recent past of Hungarian photography by Kata Balázs – Gabriella Csizek
(trans.: Vera Bakonyi-Tánczos)
Photographers of a documentary approach in Hungary practically covered a similar path to Western European and American photographers of the post-WWII era. This path started from conventional photo reportage associated with the written press and the re-interpretation of the legacy of social documentary, which aimed at objectively capturing the spectacle and sought to induce social changes. Through autonomous photo essays and reports[1] intended for exhibitions and albums, it led to the hardly definable subjective documentary photography of the 1980s. Workshops organized by the Studio of Young Photographers or the Photo Section of the Club of Young Artists played a major role in the process; the artists often assumed offices in these organizations as well as in the photography community and in professional writing. The photographers choosing photojournalism as a profession could apply for the related (and still existing) course of the Magyar Újságírók Országos Szövetsége [National Association of Hungarian Journalists], which was usually complemented by an internship at various media outlets. Most photographers were permanent employees of newspapers, or held different positions at the privileged Hungarian news agency, the Magyar Távirati Iroda, working their way up in a guild-like way starting from being photo lab technicians to preparing coverages independently. The photographic community was shaped by the different juried photo contests[2], and it was the case for press photography as well. Besides the press and report photo exhibitions in the R-Gallery, the club Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem [Budapest University of Technology] managed by Klára Szarka, a press photo exhibition was started from 1982 in a new and reformed system, based on a selection from the applications of each year’s photo contests.[3] The Magyar Fotóriporterek Társasága (Association of Hungarian Photojournalists) that announced the yearly press photo exhibitions was founded in 1990, and it operated until 2008. Following the change of regime in 1989, the Fotóriporter [Photojournalist] magazine was started in 1994 as a forum for photojournalists.
In the 1960s there were still political expectations in place regarding press photography, which were to control the manifestations of critical voices against the system. However, in the 1970s, parallel with the increasing significance of sociography in literature, a new generation of photojournalists opened up new horizons for press photography, reaching back to the golden age of sociographic photography between the world wars, creating series dealing with important and current social problems.[4] Miklós Déri, as well as Miklós Gulyás, who also did some theoretical work, played a significant part in the formation of the photo essay, or independent report, which could be positioned in between photojournalism and independent artworks. This generation was greatly influenced by the art of Tibor Zátonyi, who finished his studies in Leipzig. István Halas,[5] and Lenke Szilágyi[6] had an important role in the shaping of the subjective documentarism, ripening in the 1980s in Hungary.
Tamás Féner started out as a theater and dance photographer. His anthropologically significant work on gypsies (A telep [The Settlement], 1972), and later the exploratory, analytical series on the Cserhalmi Brigade (1976) are determinant pieces of genre of the socially sensitive report. His series on Hungarian Jews documented a parallel reality, the life of a gated community.[7] Péter Korniss has been tracing and documenting the transformation of the traditional peasant world, especially in his homeland, Transylvania. His 1978–1988 series and book[8] on the commuting worker András Skarbit from Tiszaeszlár, A vendégmunkás / The Guest Worker, provides a new reference point for the genre. Imre Benkő also finds the framework for his thinking and visual representation in comprehensive series (Sziget fesztivál[9] [Sziget Festival], Ikrek [Twins][10]). His 1987–1995 series created in the Ózd metallurgical factory[11] also brought a new perspective in the photography of blue collar workers – and this series won him the New York W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant in 1992. Tamás Révész’s series titled Búcsú a cigányteleptől / Farewell to the Gypsy Quarter published in 1977[12] also presents a world unknown for a significant section of society. Révész left for the United States in the 1990s and later continued his career as an urban and architectural photographer. In the 1980s György Stalter also reached out to topics which were regularly glorified or downright denied by the authorities. He later continued his series on Roma communities[13] together with his wife, Judit M. Horváth. Similarly to Stalter and Tímár, Tamás Urbán, who was closely associated with photojournalism as an approach, also reported on the world of prisons.
The youth journals of the Kádár era, Magyar Ifjúság [Hungarian Youth] but Ifjúsági Magazin [Youth Magazine] even more so, offered a platform for more sincere and daring photo reportage. A number of young press photographers first had the opportunity to look into subcultures at these magazines. Tamás Urbán became one of the most significant documentarists of the 1980s and the change of regime with his photographs taken of youth groups (punks, skinheads, vagabonds), those on the periphery of society, the known alternative figures of the era, the sex industry, the difficult situations occurring during the daily work of paramedics, and later on the basis of his series on forensics. The themes and the visual language of András Bánkuti also brought about something new: his images taken at the former center of illegal prostitutions, in Rákóczi Square,[14] and those taken around the change of regime in Hungary, have become important documents of the era.
The Nagybaracskai Fotográfiai Alkotótelep [Nagybaracska Creative Photography Colony Workshop] supporting the social photography approach, operated from 1981 until 1989,[15] with artists like Katalin Baricz, who later became acknowledged as a fashion photographer; Magdolna Vékás, who is appreciated in the profession as an expert on historical photo techniques; or Péter Horváth and Dávid Horváth, who became known through their sensitive photo reports. In parallel with all this, based on the initiative of and under the supervision of Béla Albertini[16] the research of Hungarian social photography was started. In 1983 the exhibition series Szociofotó [Social Documentary] (Fiatalok [Youth], Öregek [Elderly], Környezetképek [Images of the Environment], Ünnepek [Festivities]) was an important initiative that found its place in the Fényes Adolf Hall of Budapest, which provided a forum for the tolerated trends and experimental artists, as well as a space for self-financed exhibitions. Péter Tímár, who had been previously interested in mediated photography, presented his series Gyász [Mourning] – dealing with death and its institutional and social practices – here, at the fifth exhibition. The exhibition was bannned within days, and then later showcased in the Gödöllői Galéria [Gödöllő Gallery] in 1985, but even there it was open for only two days.[17]
Besides and in spite of the political control, the independent photo report and the subjective documentary meant the expansion of photography in terms of genres, themes and form as well, and the intention of presenting real social problems in an honest and admittedly subjective way.
[1] Miltényi, Tibor. Progresszív fotó [Progressive Photo]. Szellemkép könyvek 1, 1994.
[2] Examples include the conservative, quarterly photo contests of the journals Az év képei [Images of the Year], or Fotóművészet [Artistic Photography] announced by the Association.
[3] The exhibitions were organized by Zoltán Szalay, from 1983 jointly with Éva Keleti.[3] Regarding the history of the exhibitions see: László, Ágnes and Szalay, Zoltán (editors). Visszapillantás / Flashback 1981-2005. A magyar sajtófotó huszonöt éve / Twentyfive years of Hungarian press photography. Press&Pictures Kiállításszervező és Kiadói Kft., 2007.
[4] Gulyás, Miklós. “Szubjektív dokumentarizmus” [Subjective Documentary]. Dokumentum 6, VárUcca Műhely, 2004/1-2, Fotóhónap [Photo Month Festival], 2004, pp 64–96.
[5] See Halas, István. Paris Budapest, Budapest Galéria Józsefvárosi Kiállítóterme [The Józsefváros Exhibition Room of the Budapest Gallery], 1985.; Halas, István. Képmások [Images]. Liget Galéria [Liget Gallery], 1986.; Halas, István. Páros páratlan [Even Odd]. Brussels: Espace Photographique Contretype. (Curators: Gabriella Csizek, Jean-Louis Godefroid, Gábor Sz. Szilágyi), 2004.
[6] See Szilágyi, Lenke. Fotóbrancs [Photo Crew]. Budapest Galéria [Budapest Gallery], 1994; Szilágyi Lenke: Látókép megállóhely [Sight Stop]. Budapest: Magvető Kiadó, 1998.; Szilágyi, Lenke. Fényképmoly [Photo-Worm]. Ernst Múzeum [Ernst Museum], 2004.; Szilágyi, Lenke. Single Lens. Vintage Galéria [Vintage Gallery], 2007.
[7] Féner, Tamás and Scheiber, Sándor. “…és beszéld el fiadnak…” Zsidó hagyományok Magyarországon [“… And tell about it to your son…” Jewish Traditions in Hungary]. Budapest: Corvina, 1984. He exhibited the pictures following extended licensing problems in 1983, in the Néprajzi Múzeum (Museum of Ethnography).
[8] Korniss, Péter. A vendégmunkás. Fényképregény [The Guest Worker. A Photo Novel]. Budapest: Mezőgazdasági Kiadó, 1988.
[9] Benkő, Imre. Arcok. Sziget Fesztivál, Budapest, 1993-2002 [Faces. Sziget Festival, Budapest, 1993–2002] (foreword: Legát, Tibor). Fotografus.hu Alapítvány a Magyar Fotográfiáért, 2003.
[10] Benkő, Imre. Ikrek / Twins. 1982–2008 (foreword: Péter Baki, dr. Júlia Métneki). Magyar Fotográfiai Múzeum [Hungarian Museum of Photography], 2009.
[11] Benkő, Imre. Acélváros / Steel Town – Fotóesszé / Photo Essay – Ózd, 1987-1995 (foreword: Colin Jacobson). Pelikán Kiadó, 1996.
[12] Révész, Tamás – Tamás, Ervin. Búcsú a cigányteleptől [Farewell to the Roma Ghetto]. Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó, 1977.
[13] See Stalter, György – M. Horváth, Judit. Más Világ/Other World. Private publication, 1998.
[14] Exhibited: Fiatal fotóriporterek kiállítása [Exhibition of Young Photojournalists] (László Batha, András Bánkuti, Gábor Fejér, Andrea Felvégi, János Harmati, Dávid Horváth, Árpád Kiss, Gábor Lengyel, Zoltán Magyarosy), R fotógaléria [R Photo Gallery], Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem, 1981.
[15] See Gera, Mihály. A mi hazánk… Nagybaracskai Fotográfiai Alkotótelep, 1981-1991 [Our homeland… Nagybaracska Photographic Workshop]. Intera Rt, 1998.; Gera, Mihály. A hetedik kiállítás elé (Rendhagyó és némiképp illetlen bevezető)/ Preceding the Seventh Exhibition (An irregular and slightly impolite preface), VII. Nagybaracskai Fotográfiai Alkotótábor kiállítása Szeremlén [Szeremle Exhibition of the 7th Nagybaracska Photographic Workshop], 1987. and Albertini, Béla. A szociofotó ma, V. Nagybaracskai Fotográfiai Alkotótábor kiállítása [Social Photography Today. 5th Exhibition of the Nagybaracska Photographic Workshop]. Óbuda Galéria, May 27 – July 6, 1986. 6-7.; and Albertini, Béla. Alkotótelepek Bács-Kiskun megyében [Workshops in Bács-Kiskun County]. Budapest Galéria Kiállítóháza [Exhibition House of the Budapest Gallery], June 19 – July 12, 1987. 1-2.
[17] Photographs of Péter Tímár: Gyász [Grief], Szociofotó kiállítás no.5 [5th Social Photography Exhibition] (preface written by Sándor Gulyás, exhibitions organized by Mihály Gera, Péter Tímár, Tamás Urbán)