The photo which inspired Bresson to photograph - Martin Munkácsi

http://fotobibliografica.ca/media/Munkacsi_Tanganyika.jpg

In 1932, the young Henri Cartier-Bresson, at the time an undirected photographer who catalogued his travels and his friends, saw the Munkácsi photograph Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika, taken on a beach in Liberia. Cartier-Bresson later said, "For me this photograph was the spark that ignited my enthusiasm. I suddenly realized that, by capturing the moment, photography was able to achieve eternity. It is the only photograph to have influenced me. This picture has such intensity, such joie de vivre, such a sense of wonder that it continues to fascinate me to this day." He paraphrased this many times during his life, including the quotation, "I suddenly understood that photography can fix eternity in a moment. It is the only photo that influenced me. There is such intensity in this image, such spontaneity, such joie de vivre, such miraculousness, that even today it still bowls me over." (wikipedia)


Our little Hungary has given the world a nice sum of photographers. André Kertész, Brassai, Moholy-Nagy László and Robert Capa are just to mention a few. Munkácsi was born in Transylvania, in the former Monarchy, but like all his "colleagues" became famous once abroad.

He worked in Germany and the United States and set new standards for fashion photography. He freed the models out of the room, into natural light, natural smiles and sincere movements.

Now the exhibition "Think while you Shoot" is on display till January in the Ludwig Museum Budapest in the Palace of Arts (Mupa) with free guided tours in the weekends (also in English langauge) -check their homepage for exact hours.

The Ludwig Museum is the best contemporary art museum in Budapest and is situated in of our most exciting buildings, the Palace of arts (Mupa). While watching the gorgeous exhibitions (and try to catch a guided tour always, so you can understand for example why there are some Yoko Ono pieces in the permanent exhibition :)), you will admire both the art and the architecture of the building. A masterpiece.




More photos from Munkácsi:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=martin+munkacsi&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=martin+munk&biw=1440&bih=750




http://www.ludwigmuseum.hu/index.php






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