made for fashion, and it started the trend that climaxed
in the work of Avedon today.As life in Germany grew increasingly untenable,
the Berlin-based publishers Ullstein Verlag capitu-
lated to anti-Semitic pressure by firing Jewish
employees and hiring Nazi editors. When Mun-
kacsi turned in a rather straightforward assign-
ment, photographing fruit for one of Ullstein’s
women’s magazines, five of his prints were rejected
by one of the new editors. ‘‘These are bananas,’’
was the explanation. ‘‘Bananas are not an Aryan
fruit!’’ Munkacsi left Germany and emigrated to
the United States, arriving in New York in May,
- That year, he signed an exclusive contract
with Harper’s Bazaar. Munkacsi’s photographs
(and occasional writing) appeared regularly in the
magazine; under Carmel Snow’s editorship and
Alexey Brodovitch’s art direction,Harper’s Bazaar
established itself as the most sophisticated fashion
magazine of the time.
In 1934, working with Kurt Safranski, the for-
mer managing editor of Ullstein, Munkasci helped
develop a dummy for a new picture magazine.
Their project, rejected by the Hearst Publishing
Corporation, was eventually sold to Henry Luce
and was eventually realized asLifemagazine—with
Safranski as managing editor and Munkacsi con-
tributing photographs.
In 1940, Munkacsi received a $4,000 per month
contract fromLadies’ Home Journalto photograph
their popular feature ‘‘How America Lives.’’ He was
said to be earning more than $100,000 a year and
liked to quip, ‘‘A photograph isn’t worth a thousand
words, it’s worth a thousand bucks!’’ Munkacsi’s
contract withLadies’ Home Journal, however, ended
in 1946, when the magazine pages were taken over
almost entirely by color photography. Unable to
make the transition from black-and-white to color
photography, Munkacsi received fewer major maga-
zine assignments and worked as a freelance photo-
grapher for the Reynolds Company, King Features,
and the Ford Motor Company. He also worked as a
lighting director and cameraman on the stop-action
animation puppet feature ofHansel and Gretel.
Although Munkacsi continued to take photo-
graphs and write (his autobiographical novel,
Fool’s Apprentice, was published in 1945), his
once radical vision had moved firmly into the
mainstream, and he found himself out of touch
with the changing times. In 1963, while attending
a Hungarian team’s soccer game at Randall’s
Island, New York, Munkacsi suffered a fatal
heart attack.
In a memorial to Munkacsi published inHar-
per’s Bazaar(June, 1964), Richard Avedon wrote:
He wanted his world a certain way, and what a way! He
saw what was free in it, happy in it, and however much
he suffered, and he did suffer, his pain never destroyed
his dream. Without illusions there would be no art and
possibly no life in the world. The art of Munkacsi lay in
what he wanted life to be, and he wanted it to be
splendid. And it was.
SusanMorgan
Seealso:Fashion Photography; History of Photo-
graphy: Interwar YearsBiography
Martin Munkacsi born May 18, 1896, Koloszvar, Hungary.
Active in Budapest, Hungary as sports photographer for
Az Est, 1921–1922; relocated to Berlin, Germany and
active as sports photographer and photojournalist, pri-
marily forBerliner Illustrirte, 1927–1934. Immigrates to
New York City, 1934; worked as fashion and features
photographer closely associated withHarper’s Bazaar
until 1946; his work also appeared frequently inLadies’
Home Journal, Life, and other popular American pub-
lications. Died July 14, 1963, in New York City.Exhibitions
1937 Photography 1839–1937; Museum of Modern Art;
New York, New York
1940 Tudor City Artists and Photographers; New York, New
York
1965 Glamour Portraits; Museum of Modern Art; New
York, New York
The Photo Essay: Museum of Modern Art; New
York, New York
1975 Fashion Photography: Six Decades; Emily Lowe Gal-
lery; Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, and
Kornblee Gallery, New York, New York
1977 The History of Fashion Photography; International
Museum of Photography; Rochester, New York
1978 Spontaneity and Style: Munkacsi, A Retrospective;
International Center of Photography; New York, New
York
1979 Life: The First Decade; Grey Art Gallery, New York
University; New York, New York
Fleeting Gestures: Dance Photographs; International
Center of Photography; New York
1980 Avant Garde Photography in Germany 1919–1939; San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco, Cali-
fornia
1981 Lichtbildnisse: das Portrat in der Fotografie; Rhei-
nisches Landesmuseum; Bonn, Germany
1985 Martin Munkacsi; Photofind Gallery; Woodstock,
New York
Shots of Style; Victoria and Albert Museum; London
Self-Portrait: The Photographer’s Persona 1840–1985;
Museum of Modern Art; New York, New YorkMUNKACSI, MARTIN