The collection has a few art photographs and pictures by studio photographers. The photos which have been taken by the writers themselves are rare and thus special – for example, art photographs by Péter Nádas, photos by Sophie Török (Mrs. Babits) and amateur photos by Tibor Déry.
The collection does not include images of writers only. That is due to the fact that writers’ estates or photographers’ bequests include larger sections whose unity needs to be maintained. That is why the photos of noted actors from the estate of Zsigmond Móricz have been kept and so have photographs of painters (József Rippl Rónai, Hugó Scheiber) and sculptors (Beck Ö. Fülöp) from the photographic estate of Babits and his wife, as well as photographs of General Artúr Görgey and of Orientalist Ferenc Hopp from the estate of photographer Ottó Kiss, the son of József Kiss.
There are some rare examples in terms of photo history, which were taken with special techniques between the middle of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, such as daguerreotypes (Sándor Petőfi, Lajos Kossuth, Ede Reményi), chromotypes (Mór Jókai), ferrotypes (Ferenc Molnár), photos on porcelain (Jókai’s image on a mug) and later the so-called gum bichromate and carbon prints (Aladár Székely’s art photographs).
The spread of digital photography presents a serious challenge for the future, not only in respect of collecting but also in terms of records and preservation.
Contact: E-mail: muvtarikutato@pim.hu, Telephone: + 36 1 317 3611 / 231
