Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the Twentieth Century

A few weeks ago i visited London to go see this exhibition. I had to write a critique on it, this is a cut down version for you guys

“It's not enough to have talent, you also have to be Hungarian” Robert Capa.

This exhibition is dedicated to show the birth and development of modern photography, featuring works by the Hungarian masters, Brassaï, Robert Capa, André Kertész, László Moholy Nagy and Martin Munkácsi along with other talented Hungarian photographers of the 20^th century, each one helped shape and influence the world of photography as we know it today. This exhibition shows around 200 photographs over a time line from 1914 to 1989 from over 50 photographers. The curator, Colin Ford chose to look at the Hungarian time line as Hungary had produced a surprisingly high number of intonationally known photographers. The British journal Modern photography's list of 'The Worlds Hundred Best Photographers' include 8 names from Hungary, 6 of whom are explored at this exhibition. I found this exhibition when I arrived in London where there were so many advertisements for it everywhere you looked. I had never been to The Royal Academy of Arts before and did not know what to expect but as I turned the corner from the busy road I was presented with the grand archway and handsome courtyard where huge posters were hanging down from the walls of the vast building advertising “Eyewitness”.

The exhibition starts with a quote from a great photographer of the time, Rudolf Balogh, who said “we need photographs to communicate our particularities and our national character.” Balogh marked the beginning to when Hungarian photographers introduced their field of photography to the world. Three photographs by Rudolf Balogh follows this quote. The first of the three photographs was Six Cattle (right), taken in 1930, it shows a dramatic cloudscape over a vast flat landscape where only a few trees are stood on the horizon. In the foreground there are 6 cattle pulling behind them a cart where a man is stood wearing a traditional Hungarian hat with a feather. Each photograph portrays an idealised farming situation of the Hungarian community. Each of his 3 photographs influenced the 'Hungarian Style' which had been created to invoke a sense of nostalgia of Hungary's character.

Eyewitness had a uniform and clean feel however one photograph did not simply flow from one to the other and from this It was hard to follow. At the dead ends of the exhibition, queues built up while people were stood looking into cabinates, Also I found the information on the wall labels were very limited, however the audio guide was extremely useful, helping to guide me around the exhibition it also gave detailed insight into selected photographs and provided talks about the exhibition from curator, Colin Ford.

Each photographer managed to clearly express their personalities through their work. Brassaï is one of my favourite photographers and I was excited when I had learnt that he would be part of this exhibition. He is well known for night time captures of Paris. Eyewitness featured a wide collection of Brassaï's work including Bijou of Montparnasse (left), a striking photograph of a middle aged woman covered in jewellery. The story behind this photograph is well known, this lady would come to the bar every night always heavily wearing her jewellery, one night Brassaï asked to take her photograph and discovered she wore everything that she owned. Her eyes stare straight out at the viewer perfectly reflecting Brassaï's confidant personality. Kertéz on the other hand was never comfortable outside of Hungary, His earliest surviving photograph Boy Sleeping (right) is a perfect example. Taken when he was only 18 this photograph came to be one of his most successful photographs, originally taken in 1912 he did not crop it until almost 50 years later. The crop allows the sleeping boy to fill the vertical frame, the newspapers reveal to the viewer that he is in a relaxed coffee shop that allows their customers to simply sit and read.

Straight Road (right) by Mikós Rév would have been a brilliant place to finish this exhibition. It's very similar to Six Cattle, It appears to yearn for the happier days and unspoilt countryside. Two cattle pull along a cart led by a man along a straight road towards a very different landscape to the one we saw before, this one presents a vast power station taking up most of the frame casting the farmer out the focus of the photograph.

The photographs throughout Eyewitness present glamour, truth and horrible realities of Hungarian history. This exhibition is powerful and shows an incredible range of photographic media. Colin Ford explains that he chose to end the exhibition at 1989 as looking beyond then he saw no original photographs. He decided 1989 marks the end of Hungary's photographic revolution.

It Is only now, after visiting this exhibition I can really see what Robert Capa meant with his statement “It's not enough to have talent, you also have to be Hungarian”