The last time Éva Keleti had a major exhibition, it was at the National Gallery in 2016, and featured 85 images of actors and dancers from 1976 that had never been seen before. The photographer had just celebrated her 85th birthday, and said that she was toying with the idea of taking new portraits of her former subjects.
She was as good as her word. This month, a retrospective of the photographer’s life and work, curated by Klára Szarka, opened at the Kunsthalle.
Éva Keleti left her studies in physics and chemistry for photography. Originally, in fact, she wanted to be a ballerina but could only experience that thrill on her side of the camera. From 1955, she was a reporter at Magyar Fotó, then at its successor, state-run news agency MTI. The first room at Life/Pics displays the reports and documentary pictures she made at that time. Note her image from 1955, showing four twins in Kaposvár, whom tracked down recently to snap three surviving siblings.
The next section presents Éva Keleti's period from 1976 to 1989, when she was the photo editor for Új Tükör, when her legendary photographs of the Hungarian cultural scene were taken. This who’s who of Hungarian theatre includes a mischievous young Judit Halász, Péter Haumann, Károly Gesztesi, Sándor Zsótér and Mari Törőcsik.
For reasons she is reluctant to reveal, she gave up the camera for nearly 30 years before her assistant, Eva Fábián, helped reboot her career. The photographer wrote a list of the people she wanted to capture again, this time using digital techniques. The names included those who had been left out – and she wanted to seek out the latest generation, too.
No wonder everyone immediately said ‘yes’ to the photographer. Éva Fábián also created a ‘making-of’ documentary about Eva as she took her pictures – this is definitely recommended at the current exhibition, as the tiny, 88-year-old lady is just radiant enough to open your heart. Good photography requires trust and, as she says, honesty.
The portraits of Dóra Maurer, András Schiff, János Kulka, Miklós Vecsei, Attila Vidnyánszky, Ádám Nádasdy and couples György Dragomán-Anna T Szabó, Réka Tenki-Sándor Csányi and Zsolt Trill-Nelli Szűcs will surely become iconic records of Hungarian theatre and cultural history.
The exhibition also presents the photographer's personal background, family and ancestors, including poet and photographer Miklós Jutka, and fencing champion Endre Kabos. “The exhibition is a photographic engraving of an era that meant the world to me,” said Éva Keleti at the press opening for Life/Pics. The newly published coffee table book to go with it contains a further surprise: a recently discovered photograph of Hungary’s Stalinist dictator, Mátyás Rákosi.
Life/Pics at the Kunsthalle
District XIV. Dózsa György út 37
Open: Tue-Wed, Fri-Sun 10am-6pm, Thur noon-8pm
Admission: 1,800 HUF/discounted 900 HUF
