Suzanne Szasz (October 20, 1915 – July 3, 1997) was a Hungarian-born American photographer of children and family life.

Biography

Born Suzanne Szekely in 1915 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 ...

, daughter of Joseph (a doctor) and Maria (Baron) Szekely, at thirty-one Szasz moved 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 ...

in 1946.Suzanne Szasz, 81, Photographer of Children.(Cultural Desk)(Obituary). (1997, July 10). The New York Times, p. The New York Times, July 10, 1997. In 1947 she divorced her first husband Sandor Szasz, a diplomat, and working in New York that year as a counsellor at a children's

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

Szasz began photographing with a borrowed camera. Encouraged by winning a cover competition for the '' Ladies' Home Journal'', she became a freelance photographer, selling pictures to ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

, Look,

Parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...

'' and ''

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American magazine that covered such topics as homemaking, recipes, and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a group of sev ...

''. An example of her work of this period, rare because it was specially commissioned instead of being 'on spec', is a story she made, with minimum equipment and mostly available light, over the course of eight months in 1952 for ''Women's Home Companion'' magazine; photographs in the children's polio ward of New York's

Willard Parker Hospital The Willard Parker Hospital (1885-1955) for communicable diseases was located on East 16th Street along the East River in New York City. It was founded by the City of New York in 1885. It was named after Willard Parker, a prominent physician an ...

. The series centres on 6 year old Eileen Dicheck. Interviewed for a ''Photography'' magazine articleBob Schwalberg, 'Suzanne Szasz shoots a Polio Picture story: by natural light and bounce flood her sensitive camera records a little girl's fight against a crippling disease'. Photography, Volumes 32-33. Ziff Davis Publishing Company, 1953, p.36-40,78 covering her approach to the story, she says: :"I photograph best when other people are present–where there Is a relationship between the child and other children or adults. Il you put me in a room alone with a child then I can only photograph my relation to the child. But I am interested in the real relationships that chIldren have with the world around them, and not how they act in front of the camera." From the 1950s she photographed, along with Ray Schorr, at the Pinewoods Camp at Long Pond in Plymouth,

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for traditional dance and music. Szasz' arresting low-light image of a wide-eyed girl in a toy indian headdress was selected by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

for the 'Childhood Magic' section of the world-touring

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

show for the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, which was seen by 9 million viewers. She went on to participate in four other international group exhibitions in Europe and held a series of shows in New York. Through the 1960s and 1970s Szasz produced portraits of artists and musicians including

Russell Oberlin Russell Keys Oberlin (October 11, 1928 – November 25, 2016)Millington, Barry "Russell Oberlin obituary" ''The Guardian'', December 5, 2016; retrieved December 15, 2016. was an American singer and founding member of the New York New York Pro Musi ...

, Leonard Bernstein, Roslyn Tureck,

Hilaire Hiler Hilaire Harzberg Hiler (July 16, 1898 – January 19, 1966) was an American artist, psychologist, and color theoretician who worked in Europe and United States during the mid-20th century. At home and abroad, Hiler worked as a muralist, jazz mu ...

, Sylvia Marlowe, and

Lee Hoiby Lee Henry Hoiby (February 17, 1926 – March 28, 2011) was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism at a ...

, working alongside, or co-credited with, her husband Ray Schorr.

Value to psychology of Szasz' imagery

Child psychologists A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

, including

Bruno Bettelheim Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born psychologist, scholar, public intellectual and writer who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's wor ...

and doctors at the Gesell Institute of Human Development in New Haven found Szasz's capacity to work with children, and ability to seem to 'disappear' when taking her apparently intimate and candid pictures, of value to their work and collaborated with her.Helms, D. B., & Turner, J. S. (1976). Exploring child behavior. WB Saunders Company. She assisted in another study of women who used the

birth control pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progesti ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

in 1962. Her work illustrated articles of

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard C ...

, Elizabeth Taleporos, Karl W. Deutsch and others. Though she was not a parent herself, in the context of the post-war ' baby boom' Szasz's books on, and imagery of, child-rearing proved popular amongst an audience of anxious first-time parents eager for information and affirmation. Dr Benjamin Spock, who wrote introductions to two of her books described her as "...a sensitive student of (children's) feelings...".Fondiller, Harvey V. 'Shows We've Seen'. Popular Photography, Mar 1983, Vol. 90, No. 3. ISSN 1542-0337. p.93-94, 170

Contributions to the profession

Szasz was a founding and active member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, through which she promoted the standing of women in the profession.Szasz, Suzanne. "Want to Be a Freelance?" Popular Photography 30, 5(May 1952): 46-51 She contributed numbers of texts on technique in photography, particularly on using available light, and her speciality, capturing children and their parents in a natural and unobtrusive manner. Other texts demonstrate her ability to 'read' and interpret body language, gesture and other visual clues of emotion.

Personal life

In America, on December 22, 1956, Szasz married Ray Shorr, also a photographer, and they remained together until his death in 1994. There were no children from either of her marriages. Szasz died on July 3, 1997 in her native Budapest whilst visiting her relatives.

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Articles

* Anna W. M. Wolf & Suzanne Szasz. 'David makes a friend'. In Woman's home companion. August 1950 * Anna W. M. Wolf & Suzanne Szasz. 'Let me have it'. In Woman's home companion, September 1950 * Szasz, Suzanne, 'How to Read Your Child's Body Language'. in Good Housekeeping ; New York Vol. 186, Iss. 6, (Jun 1978): 80, 82, 84, 86.

Texts about

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* December 1, 1982 – December 31, 1982 ''Suzanne Szasz: Juxtapositions''. Photography Unlimited Gallery, New York. * The Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest (retrospective 1982) * January 11, 1981 – February 11, 1981 Suzanne Szasz: Children and Other People in Black and White from 1950 to the Present. Camera Club of New York. * February 1982. Suzanne Szasz: Children and Other People. Neikrug Gallery, New York.

Group exhibitions

* December 12, 1977 - January 15, 1978 ''Weltausstellung der Fotografie - Die Kinder dieser Welt''. 515 Fotos aus 94 Ländern von 238 Fotografen. Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich, HGKZ, Switzerland. * September 16, 1977 – October 9, 1977 ''Women Photograph Men''. International Center of Photography, New York. * September – October 1975 ''Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers'' Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. * October 13, 1973 - Nov 18, 1973. ''3rd Weltausstellung der Fotografie - Unterwegs zum Paradies''. Gruner + Jahr AG, Druck- und Verlagshaus, Stern, Hamburg, Germany * December 6, 1968 - January 5, 1969 ''Die Frau - 2nd Weltausstellung der Photographie.'' Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Zürich, KGMZ, Switzerland. * October 2, 1964 - November 8, 1964 Der Mensch - ''First Weltausstellung der Fotografie. Organisiert von 26 europäischen Museen zum Thema: Was ist der Mensch?''. Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Zürich, KGMZ, CH. * January 24, 1955 - May 8, 1955 ''The Family of Man.'' The Museum of Modern Art, New YorkSee the master checklist at https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2429?locale=en Suzanne Szasz is referred as "Suzanne Szasz, stateless"

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szasz, Suzanne 1915 births 1997 deaths Children in art Hungarian emigrants to the United States American photojournalists 20th-century American photographers Photographers from Budapest 20th-century American women photographers Women photojournalists