World-famous Hungarian photographer’s exhibition to open in Budapest!

This exhibition – Nicolás Muller: The Committed Gaze – sheds light on the work of Nicolás Muller (Born Miklós Müller, Orosháza, Hungary, 1913 – Andrín, Spain, 2000). He spent most of his life in Spain and who was one of the leading figures of Hungarian socio-documentary photography and at the same time, he is considered one of the most important representatives of post-war photography in Spain, the country where he would finally settle.

The exhibition – presented at the Capa Centre from 16 June to 4 September – explores the landscapes of a lifelong journey and the countries where Muller lived. It includes 126 mostly unpublished photographs taken between 1930 and 1967, being made especially for this occasion, upon the request of the Cervantes Institute and the Ministry of Culture of Spain.

The exhibition has been organized by the Capa Center and the Instituto Cervantes Budapest, and co-organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture with the collaboration of the Embassy of Spain in Budapest.

Muller enriches the extraordinary list of worldwide recognized Hungarian photographers, such as André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi, Francisco Aszmann, Eva Besnyö, Brassaï, Lucien Hervé, Mari Mahr or Robert Capa. Like many of them, he spent much of his life in exile.

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Jewish-born Nicolás Muller spent the years before World War II in his native Hungary. He was given his first camera at the age of thirteen and immediately began to explore its capacity to express a certain idea of the world. He maintained this passion for photography when studying law and politics at the Szeged University where he became friends with Gyula Ortutay, Miklós Radnóti and Fanni Gyarmati among others. During his four years at university, he would also explore the Hungarian plains and villages, whether on foot, by train or by bike, photographing children, scenes of rural life and the workers

building the dykes on the river Tisza.

Like many of his fellow Hungarian photographers at the time, in the 1930s Muller’s work was defined by a humanist and documentary approach, evincing a strong sense of sympathy for the world of labor and the most modest members of society. This interest would remain for the rest of his life and would underline the social character of his work. He was inspired by the progressive mindset of the avant-garde movement and its aesthetics, which is evident in his photographs’ diagonal perspectives and high- and low-angle shots.