John Albok (1894–1982) was a
Hungarian photographer who immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and documented street scenes in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
during the
Great Depression and later.
Youth
John Albok was born in
Munkacs, Hungary, in what is now Ukraine. After apprenticing to a tailor from the ages of 13 to 17, he was drafted into the Hungarian army. He began photographing life in the hospital and prison where he worked. During the war, Albok's father killed himself and two of his sisters died of starvation. In 1921, Albok immigrated to the United States.
New York City
John Albok worked as a tailor in a shop at 96th Street and Madison Avenue. He lived above the shop with his wife, fellow Hungarian Ilona Kiss, and their daughter, also named Ilona. He photographed street life primarily in his immediate neighborhood for sixty years, until his death in 1982.
Photography
After winning a weekly photo contest held by the ''New York Herald Tribune'' in 1937, he captured the attention of
Grace Mayer, photography curator at the
Museum of the City of New York
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
. His first solo show, ''Faces of the City'', was held at the Museum in 1938.
Today, Albok's work may be found in collections at the Museum of the City of New York, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, the
Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fe ...
, and many other institutions.
John Albok's estate is represented b
Photographs Do Not Bend (PDNB) Galleryin Dallas, Texas.
Sources and further reading
Books of Photographs by John Albok
* ''John Albok, 1894-1982 : through the eye of the needle = Albók János : keresztül a tű fokán''. Budapest: Budapest Galéria; Hungarian Multicultural Center, Inc., 1998.
* ''John Albok, for the children : September 15 to October 14, 1995.'' Dallas: Photographic Archives Gallery, 1995.
References
External links
Images by John Albok in the collections of the Museum of the City of New York
The John Albok Photograph Collectionat the New-York Historical Society
John Albok Negativesat Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections
Radio Interview with John Albokat WNYC – The NYPR Archive Collections
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1894 births
1982 deaths
Hungarian photographers
Hungarian emigrants to the United States