Veszprémi Nóra - Szücs György szerk.: Borsos József festő és fotográfus (1821–1883) (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2009/4)

BORSOS JÓZSEF, A FÉNYKÉPÉSZ / JÓZSEF BORSOS THE PHOTOGRAPHER - Zsuzsa FARKAS: A Few Words on József Borsos'Photography

changes in the mode of representation through the lens of the changing fashion. Borsos' photographs can faithfully illustrate how the so-called "traditional Hungarian garb" made its appearance first in everyday clothing, and then also in ceremonial wear. In the art historians' view, the appearance of lithography in 1810 and the invention of photography in 1839 constituted major turning points in the periodicization of 19th-century art. By the time Borsos became involved in photography, the theoretical debates had already ended and, therefore, he missed all the excitement of the early days. The philosophers, scholars, writers and aesthetes had stated their position on the subject: the 1863 debate between Miklós Barabás and Bertalan Székely sealed the Hungarian situation. The incredible popularity of the cartes de visités effected changes in photography through their sheer volume, in which these cards were produced. The next changes came with a new technical development that allowed the printing of photographs, which meant that they could be published in the newspapers, further increasing the scope of their availability. In addition to the vicissitudes of history, the changing legal regulations also had detrimental effects on the chances of survival for portraits made in photographic studios. Law XVI of 1884 was formulated to regulate copyrights. According to Paragraph 69, the copyright ownership vested in the author of the photograph, while Paragraph 72 exempted portraits from this rule, stating that in the case of a commissioned photograph the right of producing further copies belonged to the person commissioning the original. This provision served to protect the personal rights of the individuals: pursuant to that, it was not possible to take pictures of a person, or reproduce such a photograph and commercially distribute it, without prior agreement by that person. As a result of this, the vast collections of negatives, which had been preciously guarded possession till then, became completely worthless. Today, the photographic collections of museums hold hundreds of thousands of 19th-century portraits, but they are not readily accessible. The main problem that researchers face in this regard is volume. With time, they may become more readily accessible through the Internet, which would also help researchers tremendously. In view of the excellent guality of Borsos' currently known photographic legacy - three thousand portraits - could form the basis of a future European portrait collection.