Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 20. 1980 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1983)
Közlemények – Mitteilungen - Karlovits Károly – Beke László: The beginnings of Photography in Hungary. p. 249–267. t. LXXXIII–CIV.
daguerreotypes in this exhibition which were deemed essential in showing a Hungarian family tree from the last century which used the photographs of the family members were probably made by Strelisky Lipót as well.) Mayer György (born in 1817) began his carreer as a playing card manufacturer. He opened his studio in Pest in 1856. Mayer was one of the most prolific photographers in the capital and had branch studios in the country and even abroad. One of the most significant Hungarian photographers was Simonyi Antal (1821—1892). He studied engineering and painting in Paris. Later, he became a follower of Utopian Socialism. He had taken part in the War of independence in 1848—1849 and was arrested in 1851. In 1855 however, he was again given a chance to visit Paris were he won a gold medal from the World Exhibition for his "snapshot invention". (Unfortunately, the actual nature of this invention is little known.) He was to adopt nomerous photographic techniques and methods in Hungary and designed a photographic lens as well. He had a studio in Pest on Váci street in 1855 moved to Al-Duna row in 1864. He photographed the representatives of the Parliament. These pictures were presented in a monumental album. In addition, he photographed the majority of the outstanding personalities in Hungary. It is possible that he made two famous stereo pictures as well, which show Teleki László in his room immediately after he committed suicide (1861). As far as we know these are the first photographs ever used in criminology. In a way similar to the portrait albums made by Simonyi, Schrecker Ignác (who installed his first studio in Pest in 1863) made several systematically arranged sets of portaits. He photographed the participants of the 1864 Charity Bazaar — twenty five ladies all posed individually in the same way, behind small tables covered with various goods. He published the Academy Album in 1865. It was structured similarly to the Bazaar Album described before. This album came in a number of versions and contained the portaits of 246 Hungarian scientists. . The famous painter Barabás Miklós (1810—1890) was forced by financial need to work with photography. But during the brief two years that he worked he became one of the most significant portrait photographers of his age. He joined the optician Fájth János and they opened their studio in Pest on the corner of Úri and Korona streets in 1862. By the following year Barabás became the sole owner of the firm. His assistant at that time was his own son-in-law Szegedy-Maszák Hugó. Barabás gave up professional photography in 1864, but kept on taking pictures occasionally. A carte-de-visite showing Barabás himself, Fájth, and one of their models in the studio was left as part of his legacy. This photograph offers an unique opportunity to study his two large size plate using cameras, the painted scenery used as a background etc. The picture also shows how a stereo photograph was taken. The model's neck rested against a head support. Fajth János has two caps for objectives in his hands while Barabás is calculating the exposure time with a pocket watch. (Photographs showing the interior of studios are among the most precious documents in the history of photography. Such pictures provide the most important insights into early photographic tradition and technical equipment. This is why the photograph showing the studio of Divald Károly in Eperjes was included in the material of the exhibition. The picture was taken in 1865 and shows the master in the company of his assistants Loabanau József and Egey István. Some of the copying and drying frames kept in the collection of the National Technical Museum are similar to those seen in the studio interior). Barabás took several pictures of his son-in-law, the writer and lithographer, Szegedy-Maszák Hugó (Maszák Hugó 1831—1916). Earlier it was thought that Szegedy-Maszák had learned the daguerreotype technique from Zeyk Miklós. The unpublished diary of Szegedy-Maszák however, shows that Barabás sent his assistant to the Kolozsvár studio of Veress Ferenc in 1862 in order to learn some photographic master strokes. This is why it is likely that unsigned visiting cards made in the Veress studio (?) were prepared by Szegedy-Maszák Hugó whose handwritten notes on the backside of these prints could be identified as "The first print made by myself, independently" and "with the old silver". In 1863 he married Barabás Ilonka and began to work in the studio of his father-in-law. Szegedy-Maszák proudly remerked in his diary: "I work in the field of photography with success, that is to say with great success. I have made, what is for now, the largest print in Pest." Borsos József (1821—1883) like Barabás, began his carreer as a painter. Later when he became a photographer, he opened his studio with Doctor Albert in 1861. It was located in Pest at 42 Ország street. A studio portrait of Borsos made by Doctor Albert is also known. This picture shows the artist with his studio equipment, cameras, objectives, stereo viewer etc. (The style of this photograph is diametrically opposed to a self-portrait of Borsos which was taken in a picturesque environment comprised of ornamental cartouche, slightly tasteless statues, draperies and decorative arms.) The portraits of Madách, Liszt, and Munkácsy among others were also taken in the studio of Borsos Miklós and Doctor Albert. Liszt was also photographed by С a n z i and Heller whose studio functioned in Pest after 1862. The best known portrait of Deák, the politician, which was reproduced in great numbers, was also made by them. In addition, Deák was photographed by Schrecker, Simonyi, and others as may be seen by the pictures which have survived. Hungarian photographers seemed to have competed for the opportunity to photograph well known public figures like Arany János, Madách Imre, Kemény Zsigmond, Laborfalvy Róza, Jókai Mór, Eötvös József, Egressy Gábor and many others. Such first or unique opportunities helped establish the reputation of the studios. From this point of view it was similarly important to have some of these outstanding personalities photographed. Old age portraits of Barabás Miklós for example, are known to have been made by Schrecker, Borsos, Divald, Klösz, Kozmata and Koller. There is one more studio which should be mentioned because of the unique type of visiting cards it produced. The so-called "Porcelain studio" functioned in the first half of the 1860's in Pest at 3 Ke r epesi street. In spite of the name, photographs on porcelain were not made there. The studio was named after the glossy photographs of rich tonality ranging from snow white to coal black. Nothing certain is known of this technique (a "Porzellan Atelier" existed in Vienna as well). It is possible that the way these pictures were made was related to the procedure for making the "alabaster pictures" which was a collodium technique presented by Tömösváry in his book. (This kind of photographic technique may well have been used by Országh Antal as well, in the portrait of Laborfalvy Róza, 1862.) It is equally possible that the name Csonka Simon is behind this trade mark because he is known to have had a studio at 3 Kerepesi street in the 1860's. Beginning with the last half of the 1860's professional photography in Hungary became increasingly commercialized. Enthusiastic amateur photographers however, were to rescue Hungarian photography from this temporary artistic crisis. K. Karlovits —L. Веке 255
