Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

American, Born Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacy

László Kondor, Boys with U.S. Flag, Midway Park, Chicago, 1968.

Until Jan 26, 2025
200 N Arthur Ashe Blvd, Richmond, VA 23220, United States

Robert Capa was born in 1913 to a Jewish family in Budapest. His name was Endre Ernö Friedmann, but he renamed himself “Robert Capa” in the 1930s, borrowing from his childhood nickname “Cápa”—Hungarian for “shark.” He soon became one of the world’s most famous photojournalists, known especially for his coverage of combat. There were other Hungarian photojournalists of note at that time—André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi, and György Kepes. Most moved from Budapest to Europe, and from Europe to the faraway cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. This exhibition present 170 images by these distinguished Hungarian American photographers. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Kathleen Boone Samuels Memorial Fund, 2021.83 © 2024 Estate of Laszlo Kondor