Kunt Ernő szerk.: Kép-hagyomány – Nép-hagyomány (Miskolc, 1990)

I. RÉSZTANULMÁNYOK - Hoppál Mihály: Az amerikai magyar kivándorlók családi fényképeiről

certain informalization of photography and of people's behaviour in front of the camera; the poses gradually changed from 'stiff to more 'informal'. . . social relations were in any case no longer so informal and rigid." (Boerdam-Oosterbaan 1980:108). In the collection of the photos of the American-Hungarians the following events occured: wedding, funeral, Christmas, Santa Claus (Dec. 7th), pig-killing, picnic, birthday lunch, the visit of the relatives, excursion (in general the moment of the arrival or of the relaxation connected with drinking and eating) the annual tennis-party, a visit of a famous person in the town, the celebrated actress in the circle of the family. In the pictures where nothing is happening the following themes can be seen: family portraits in group or only one person, objects (the house, the car, the garden: all of them the property, mostly the property of the photographer). First I would like to deal with wedding, the most important rite of the family life which represents a third sets of the photos I could see (two thirds of the photos is divided among the other topics). Reviewing the style of photographing from the oldest pices to our days we can see that the photos, taken in the first decades of the century, have a frontal view. The figures are facing the camera stiffly representing a timeless constancy like the saints of the old Russian icons, the representatives of the eternity. „A frontal portrait means the eternity in all languages of aesthetics. . ." (Bourdieu 1982:228). It is worth quoting the French sociologist's thoughts from his study written about the meaning of photographs referring to our above mentioned topic: „The behaviour and poses seen in the pictures and accepted by the society refer to the style and quality of the social contacts. . . in the urban society the social norms also regulate the aesthetics of photographing." (Bourdieu 1982:233). This explanation may be completely valid concerning the photos of the AmericanHungarians especially among the people who emigrated at the beginning of the century. We may add that the above mentioned facts are not only Hungarian peculiarities, because the photos about the weddings have a special social importance among the Italian emigrants as well (Bianco-Angiuli 1980: 119-123). The photos confirmed and certified this event with its modern means photographing the moment. The bounds of wedlock was created „forever" (photo 4). The photos which were put in an album and arranged with great care, were taken in 1945-46. The atmosphere is more informal and intimate. The young couple is standing on the street before the church surrounded by some friends (photo 5). On one of the photos a caption informs us that the wedding sometimes lasted two days like in Hungary, in their former home. It was confirmed by one of the interviewed persons: wedding lasted almost two days (B. I. on the tape No. 34.). The steffening of the poses can be seen very well on the photos made in the 1950's (photo 6). This family rites were photographed in photo studios. The black tie was replaced by a white tuxedo, the figures turned away a bit from the rigid frontal pose (photo 7). Later some photos were already taken at home and pictures of the 1970's were taken exclusively by the members of the family photographing the act of cutting jointly the festive cake (photo 8). and catching intimate moments (young couple are feeding each other, the bride is dancing). From time to time the wedding, its clothes, the environment, and the photos are changing together: rigid and informal periods follow each other. In the seventies the photos reflect totally new, more natural, lively moments of weddings. During the decades this tendency of „development" is in harmony with the fact that more photos are made, because technically it is easier, and that behaviours let alone dancing became more breezy with less rules and conventions. A tendency of deritualization characterizes the customs of the funerals as well. In general in the USA a funeral is a great social meeting opposed to the Hungarian family