Martin Munkásci (in Extreme landscape)

BIOGRAPHIE MARTIN MUNKÁSCI

Martin Munkácsi, born 1896-1963, in Hungary, was an important sports, social and later fashion photographer of the 20th century. The exciting, late 20s in Berlin were his creative playground. He significantly shaped the experimental photography of the school of "New Vision". With his very unusual point of view, which was expressed in new perspectives, speed and thus in a momentary and dynamic way, Munkácsi quickly gained international renown. He worked for the most important Berlin newspapers and publishers before emigrating to the USA after the Nazis seized power in 1934, where he quickly gained an excellent reputation as a fashion photographer and photojournalist, photographing for newspapers such as Harper's Bazaar and Life. His intuitive grasp of the decisive moment ("The Decisive Moment!") inspired  Photographers like Cartier-Bresson, who wrote in a letter to Munkásci's daughter Joan in 1977 about the shot of the three boys running into the surf:

"I have to say: it was this photography that for me was the spark that made the fireworks burn off  [...] Suddenly, I realized that photography is able to reach eternity – through the moment. It's the only photography that has influenced me. In this picture there is such intensity, such joie de vivre, such a miracle that I am still fascinated by it today."