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”
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