Fotóriporter, 2010 (2-6. szám)

2010 / 2. szám

O I fotó riporter KINCSES KÁROLY M Munkácsiról már annyian, annyifélét összeírtak, összeírtunk és össze fogunk írni... Aki venné a fáradságot és egy ültő helyében végigolvasna néhány tucatot ezekből a rövidebb­­hosszabb, komolyabb, érdekes és érdektelen és néha teljesen ostoba szövegekből, bizonyára ki tudna cédulázni (milyen ódivatú lett ez a mi éle­tünket még olyannyira jellemző szó, de ez csak, kizárólag a nosztalgia okán), tehát meg lehetne találni könnyedén azt a 10-15 kulcsszót, történetet, sztorit, gumicsontot, amelyiket majdnem biztosan mindenki felhasznál, ha róla ír. Annak idején, 1996-ban persze én is, a Munkácsi & Munkácsi könyvemben. Ezeket az epizódokat megkerülni nem nagyon lehet, kihagyni még úgy sem, hiszen a maga korában Marci - ahogy majd mindenki nevezte - nagy legendagyártó volt, mint még jó néhányan előtte és utána a magyar fotográfia tör­ténetében. O már a húszas években tudta, amit majd fél évszázaddal később jól fizetett píár- KÁROLY KINCSES So many people, including myself, have written all sorts of things about Munkácsi and will go on doing so... If anyone took the trouble to read, in one sitting, a dozen or so of these texts: short, long, serious, interesting, uninteresting and sometimes complete nonsense, they could certainly note down on filing cards (how old fashioned and nostalgic theseobjects so typical of our lives have become), or easily find those 10 or 15 key words, stories, anecdotes, bones to chew on, that everyone almost certainly uses in writing about him. At the time of course, in 1996, 1 did so too, in my book Munkácsi & Munkácsi. One cannot really avoid these episodes or leave them out, since in his day Marci - as everyone knew him - was a great creator of legends, as were a good many before him and after him in the history of Hungarian photography. He knew in the 20s what highly paid PR people whispered to their clients half a century later: it doesn’t matter what they say, just get yourself talked about. The countless stories written about him and told by friends in social circles were an essential part of MM’s career; the often incredible, extreme situations increased MM’s prestige, the demand for his pictures of course, and for a time, steadily raised his fees. It is no accident that there was a period in America before the Second World War when MM was one of the most highly paid photojournalists in the world with a fantastic luxury apartment, several cars and his own thoroughbred ridden by his daughter in Central Park. Nevertheless the time has come to clarify certain things surrounding him, for it is just 114 years since his birth and 47 since his death. I am all for nice, round anni­versaries! The issue of a choice of name was very important to him. This had already succeeded with Brassa'i, who would have liked posterity to associate his most important work with his real name, Gyula Halász, and keep his nom de plume, created from the name of his native city, for unimportant jobs that only made a pittance. But he eventually resigned himself to being Gyulus only for his family and Brassa'i in art circles and the world at large. Robert Capa’s original name, Endre Friedmann, only appears as an addition in brackets on his biography and who has now heard of little Laci Weisz, who in certain circles it would be unthinkable not to have heard of as László

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