American, born Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacy
Nickolas Muray (American, b. Hungary, 1892–1965), Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Santa Monica, California, 1929. Gelatin silver print. George Eastman Museum, gift of Mrs. Nickolas Muray. © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
Robert Capa (American, b. Hungary, 1913–1954), Near Cerro Muriano (Córdoba front), c. September 5, 1936, 1936. Gelatin silver print, printed later. George Eastman Museum, gift of Magnum Photos, Inc.. © Magnum Photos, Inc.
Marion Palfi (American, b. Germany, 1907–1978), Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Wife of the Lynch Victim, 1949, from the portfolio Silver See: A Portfolio of Photography from Los Angeles. Gelatin silver print. © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.
Nicholas Ház (American, b. Hungary, 1883–1953), Color abstraction, ca. 1948. Dye imbibition print. George Eastman Museum, gift of Eugene P. Wightman. © estate of the artist
László Moholy Nagy (American, b. Hungary, 1895–1946), Photogram, 1925. Gelatin silver print. George Eastman Museum, purchase with funds from Eastman Kodak Company.
Sylvia Plachy (American, b. Hungary, b. 1943), Transitional Hungarian flag, Budapest, 1989. Gelatin silver print. George Eastman Museum, purchase with funds from the Ford Motor Company Fund. © Sylvia Plachy
American, born Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacy examines the pioneering artistry that emerged out of backdrops of persecution and perseverance. The exhibition follows a remarkable number of émigrés and exiles from Hungary to Berlin and Paris, and then on to New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where they reinvented themselves and American photography. This exhibition is the first full examination of their circuitous journeys to the United States—in the aftermaths of two world wars and Hungary’s student-led revolt in 1956—and the wondrous artistic legacy that developed along the way.
More than 150 stunning and surreal photographs capture the unexpected beauty of fleeting shadows, gritty urban life, glamorous celebrities, and the promises of America. Included are works by notable artists such as André Kertész, Nickolas Muray, Martin Munkácsi, and György Kepes, along with less familiar names whose images are instantly recognizable. One example is Robert Capa, a pioneer of modern photojournalism whose photographs of Omaha Beach on D-Day are among the most famous of World War II.
Providing a missing chapter in art history, the exhibition focuses on the astounding impact of Hungarian-born artists on photography in the United States, especially in urban centers. Among the highlights are works by László Moholy-Nagy, whose avant-garde beginnings in Dessau, Germany, inspired a “New Bauhaus” that sought to establish Chicago as a design incubator. Tailor and photographer John Albok’s images of urban life during the Great Depression were praised by the New York Times. On the west coast, André de Dienes portraits of cinema’s icons, including Marilyn Monroe, helped fuel Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Marvel at the poetic street scenes, Hollywood portraits, fashion photographs, and images of war produced by more than thirty Hungarian-born artists who transformed photography in the twentieth century.
American, born Hungary is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It was curated by Alex Nyerges, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Director and CEO, with Károly Kincses, founding director of the Hungarian Museum of Photography.
Before its display at the George Eastman Museum, American, born Hungary debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, on April 5, 2024, marking the grand opening of a newly renovated exhibition space at the museum. It then opened at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on October 5, 2024. The George Eastman Museum is the final venue for this traveling exhibition.