In Hungary, Eva Besnyö (1910-2003) is usually associated with the “socio-photo” movement, which aimed to explore and document social problems in the period between the two world wars. In her second homeland, the Netherlands, she gained renown for her architectural photography and, in the 1970s, for documenting the women’s movement. Kassák Museum’s exhibition, opening in September, presents Eva Besnyö as a distinctive representative of modernity, and her career as the model of how a woman can live a free, independent life unshackled by convention. By establishing herself as a professional photographer, she attained a financial independence that enabled her to choose her own way of life. This display therefore presents her oeuvre as a synthesis of artistic activity and photographic commissions, highlights major themes in her work, along with her creative methods and outlook. The ever-changing relationship of the model and the photographer, and the latter’s part in the situation were of perennial interest for her, and were usually represented with the concepts of distance and proximity. Personal Distance, the title exhibition, reflects on this praxis as it developed over space and time.
Curators: Judit Csatlós, Anna Mária Juhász
Project leaders: Nóra Feigl, Edit Sasvári
Cooperating partner: Goethe-Institut Budapest