Bäck Manci - Kárász Judit - Liebmann Béla - Müller Milós: A szegedi zsidóság és a fotográfia (Szeged, 2014)
Lengyel András: Müller Miklós
Summary: This significant representative of Hungarian and international photographic art was born on the 18th of April, 1913 in Orosháza. His father, Jenő Müller was a local lawyer, his mother was called Irma Grossmann. Orosházsa, which lies in the area between Szeged and Békéscsaba held the title of "greatest Hungarian village" for a long time due to it being a significant agricultural subcenter. It had strong ties with Hódmezővásárhely, which was bigger, but possessed several similar characteristics. As we have later found out, the geographical and structural layout of his birthplace was motivational for him. Miklós Müller finished his elementary studies in Orosháza, but his secondary education (between 1923 and 1931) took place in Hódmezővásárhely, the "Paris of Peasantry” (also known in a slightly ironical way as "Sárhely" (literal translation: a place of mud / a muddy place); this name was given to the town by Attila József, who frequently visited the area) The events that took place during his high school education became important later for two reasons. The first one is his increased focus on Hungarian social experiences and the other one is the emergence of a new hobby: this was the first time that he took a camera into his hands, only as a hobby at first, from this point in time photography became the number one passion of the high school boy. in the fall of 1931 he was presented with a unique situation in Szeged. His art on the other hand was most influenced by the fact that this period was the golden era (in terms of self-presentation and being spectacular) of the Art Workshop of György Buday, which consisted of a mixture of reformed, catholic and Jewish students. He stayed in Szeged until 1936, finished his studies in law, then he left the city. We can now say it with certainty that the years he spent in Szeged defined his whole life's work. His photographic self was born in Szeged, during this period. In 1938, when Miklós Müller left the country, he didn't know, he couldn't have known how long he would have to leave and what is going to become of him. First he lived in Paris for a time, his only source of income were occasional photographic assignments. His first steps were guided by Hungarians living there, by the already famous photojournalist Robert Capa, Brassai and by Lajos Tihanyi (who was a painter with many outstanding portraits) for instance. In addition, they and their arts had an impact on his perspective. He became acquainted with Picasso, who - in order to help him with his financial situation - bought some of his photos. In the fall of 1939, taking advantage of his position as a photographer, he went to Portugal where, similarly to many other countries, an immigrant has a hard time finding a job. In 1939, when he moved to Morocco (which was under Spanish jurisdiction), more specifically to Tangier, which was an international of town of a special legal status. His new friend, Fernando Vela invited him to Spain. He stayed in Tangier until 1947. He was welcomed by the community of Madrid, where he lived until his retirement (1979). Authors of great renown wrote critiques of acknowledgement to him. Taking his experiences in Hungary and near the sea as a basis of his work he soon became one of the leading photographic artists of Spanish speaking people around the world, naming himself Nicolás Muller. The Espana Clara, his joint creation with Azorin was published in 1966. He retired around the 70"’ year of his life, he gave the control of his studio in Madrid to his daughter, Ana Muller. He himself moved down to the beach of Asturias, to the small village of Andrin (LLanes), which had 400 residents. His long life ended on the 3rd of January, 2000 in Andrin.
