Ata Kandó (born Etelka Görög; 17 September 1913 – 14 September 2017) was a Hungarian-born Dutch photographer. Beginning her photography practice in the 1930s with children's photography, Kandó later worked as a fashion photographer, photographed refugees and travelled to the Amazon to photograph landscapes and indigenous people. In 1959, she won a silver medal in Munich for fashion photography and then in 1991, received the ; this was followed in 1998 with the Imre Nagy Prize and that same year, she and her husband received the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

, awarded by Israel for saving Jews during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. In 1999 she was awarded the Hungarian Photographers Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Early life

Etelka Görög was born on 17 September 1913 to a family of

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived ...

descent in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

to Margit (née Beke) and Imre Görög. Her father was a high school teacher and translator of Russian literature. He had been a prisoner of war in Russia during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Her mother translated Scandinavian literature into Hungarian and spoke five languages. Etelka's maternal grandfather ( Hungarian style: Beke Manó), was a noted

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. When she learned to talk, Etelka was unable to pronounce her own name and called herself Ata, which she continued to use into adulthood. Her parents encouraged their daughter in pursuing an artistic profession. She liked drawing and was enrolled in the

Sándor Bortnyik Sándor Bortnyik (July 3, 1893 – December 31, 1976) was a Hungarian painter and graphic designer. His work was greatly influenced by Cubism, Expressionism and Constructivism. Life He moved to Weimar in 1922 and was connected to the Bau ...

private academy. Other students included the artists

Victor Vasarely Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement. His work entitled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, is consid ...

(Vásárhelyi Győző) and Gyula Kandó (Kandó Gyula). She and Gyula wed in 1931 and moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, but, due to financial difficulties, the couple returned to Budapest in 1935. Changing her studies to photography, Kandó began studying with Klára Wachter and Mariann Reismann and then completed an apprenticeship with Ferenc Haár. She completed her exams studying under .

Career

Kandó and her husband returned to Paris in 1938 and she opened a photography studio between the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

and the Palais Garnier with Ferenc Haár's wife. Primarily focusing on children's photography, the business began growing, but in 1940 the German invasion of Paris forced the couple's deportation and return to Hungary. In 1941, Kandó had a son, Tamás, and two years later gave birth to twin daughters, Júlia and Magdolna. Her parents and sister were forced into hiding due to their Jewish heritage, however, as Kandó's husband was not Jewish and the Aryan Spouse Act of Hungary gave her a measure of protection, Kandó was able to move about freely. Both she and her husband worked for the

resistance during World War II Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...

, housing fourteen Jews in their home. In another case, Kandó gave her identity papers to Bíró Gábor (Gábor Bíró), a pregnant Jewish woman, so that she could enter a Christian maternity hospital to have her baby. After the birth, Kandó pretended the child was her own and provided forged identity papers so that the woman could act as a

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

for her own child. Moving multiple times, the Kandó–Bíró household managed to remain undetected until the war ended. Both Kandó and her husband were honored with the

from the State of Israel for assisting Jews during the

in 1998. In 1947, the family returned to Paris and Kandó resumed her photography career with a camera she received from

Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some t ...

after her own was lost. Capa also hired her to work at

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eisn ...

laboratory where she remained until 1952. Unable to find work in Paris, her husband returned to Hungary in 1949 to seek work so the family could join him, but in late 1949 the Iron Curtain's establishment meant that the family was unable to reunite. Shortly thereafter, Kandó and her husband separated and she fell in love with a 25-year-old Dutch photographer,

Ed van der Elsken Eduard van der Elsken (10 March 1925 – 28 December 1990) was a Dutch photographer and filmmaker. His imagery provides quotidian, intimate and autobiographic perspectives on the European zeitgeist spanning the period of the Second World War in ...

. The couple lived together for four years before marrying in 1954 and moving to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Less than a year later, however, they divorced and she found herself alone in a foreign country with three children. Turning to fashion photography, she took pictures for well-known Dutch and French fashion houses and travelled with her children making photo shoots throughout the Alps. In 1956, Kandó traveled to the Austrian–Hungarian border during the Hungarian Revolution. She wanted to take pictures of the refugees but could not convince any other photographers to go with her. When the Bound Arts Federation ( nl, Gebonden Kunsten Federatie (GKf)) supported the trip and

De Bezige Bij De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary publishing companies in the Netherlands. History The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands by ; its first publication was a poe ...

agreed to publish the works, Violette Cornelius joined her. The two women flew to Vienna and took photographs of refugee children, stipulating that the proceeds of the sale go to assist the refugees. The untitled book was called The Red Book due to its colour, was shot over three weeks so that it could be released by Christmas. Sales raised over a quarter of a million dollars. The following year, Kandó published a book called ''Droom in het woud'' (Dream in the forest), which featured the holiday trips she had taken in Switzerland and Austria with her children. Her son, Tamás, who was fourteen, wrote the texts to accompany the dream-like images. Several bookstores in the Netherlands refused to sell the book, on the grounds that the dream sequences were too erotic. Kandó returned to fashion photography and obtained a teaching post at a Dutch secondary school. In 1959, she won a silver medal from Munich for the best fashion photograph of the year and began working at the Dutch Academy of Arts and Design and Graphic Arts in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. In 1961, through a fashion model, Barbara Brandlín, who was also working as an assistant to the architect Le Corbusier, Kandó was invited to visit Caracas. She photographed Brandlín in the jungle and through contact with a French priest was able to fly to the interior and take images of some of the native indigenous people. She returned again in 1965 taking more photographs of the Amazon landscape and people. She was also able to take photographs of Peruvian whalers during the second trip. The South American photographs were featured in '' National Geographic'' and some images were purchased by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and private collectors. In 1970, some of them were published in a book called ''A Hold véréből''. In 1979, Kandó moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

to be near her son, now known as Thomas. She continued working and publishing photographs from the United States for a decade. Her work was increasingly recognized during this time. She received Pro Cultura Hungarica Medal in 1991. In 1998, Kandó was awarded the Imre Nagy Prize . That same year, she and her former husband received the

, awarded by Israel for saving Jews during the

. In 1999 she was awarded the Hungarian Photographers Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Later career

In 1999, Kandó moved to the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to be near one of her daughters and then in 2001 returned to the Netherlands, settling in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

. In 2003, she published a second collection of the photographs taken of her children on their holidays between 1954 and 1955. The book had originally been planned for publication as a sequel to ''Droom in het woud'', but because of the poor reception of ''Droom'' in 1957, Kandó did not publish at that time. The book, was originally planned to be named Ulysses, but was renamed in 2003 and published as ''Kalypso & Nausikaä – Foto's naar Homerus Odyssee''. In 2004, in celebration of her 90th birthday, photographs from the "Red Book" were shown in the Netherlands. Two years later, Kandó held an exhibition of works in conjunction with the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin in 2006, which also featured were photographs taken in 1956 of refugee children. In 2013, in conjunction with her 100th birthday, an English and Hungarian translation of ''Dream in the Forest'' was released and the Hungarian Museum of Photography held a two-month exhibition featuring her works. The Dutch Photo Museum held an exhibition in 2014 of her work, along with portraits made by other photographers.

Death and legacy

Kandó died three days before her 104th birthday on 14 September 2017.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kando, Ata 1913 births 2017 deaths Jewish women Photographers from Budapest Hungarian Righteous Among the Nations Dutch photographers Dutch women photographers Dutch centenarians Hungarian centenarians Women centenarians Hungarian emigrants to the Netherlands