Go and grab your copy of our Arles shortlisted photography book
Fortepan Masters is a photographic album, which includes the most remarkable images from the collection of Fortepan, the most significant modern Hungarian online photographic archive. Photographer Szabolcs Barakonyi who has been editing thematic selections of photographs from Fortepan’s compilation for years has embarked on selecting with a keen eye 330 that he regards as the best and most exciting from the collection of more than a hundred thousand images, in such a way that the internal nature of the photographs would freely unfold. His principle of selection did not involve enforcing historical or thematic viewpoints, but finding outstanding photographs excelling in their beauty, purity, aesthetic significance, and sorting them without any thematic obligation. The end result is a subjective selection compiled with an expert’s eye.
Photograph: Zalán Péter Salát and Csaba Villányi
The book is a pioneering undertaking connected to the latest trends in photography: via the conception of vernacular photography and online archives, it presents an exceptional collection of pre-digital photography. The book is an original experiment whereby an international brand of photography is created on the basis of a so-called “crowdsourced” archive, a work of collective authors. It is as if the so-far hidden heritage of a formerly unknown photographer of international standing was presented to the world – yet the author is the collective self of several hundred, mostly non-professional photographers.
Fortepan Masters represents an opportunity by means of which Hungary can present itself on the international cultural market as never before. The 20th century photographs published in the book present the historical and cultural heritage of Hungarian society’s everyday life, as well as the roots of Hungarian photographic thinking which exists in private photography and is linked to world heritage.
Photograph: Zalán Péter Salát and Csaba Villányi
For those who would like to know more about the Hungarian vernacular photography archive titled Fortepan we recommend this interview on the Eidolon Journal.
The book was on the shortlist of the Les Rencontres de la Photographie’s 2022 Book Awards in the historical book category, won the Hungarian Design Award in 2022, and received a Special mention at the German Design Award 2023.
Concept creator and art director: Szabolcs Barakonyi
Creative concept of book design: Zalán Péter Salát
Picture editors: Szabolcs Barakonyi, Zalán Péter Salát
Editor: Róza Tekla Szilágyi
Publisher: Bazin Investments Ltd.
Managing director: György Simó
333 photographs, 690 pages, printed and published in Budapest in 2022
100 GBP
