“A BENCHMARK PHOTOBOOK OF PRE-WAR PEASANT LIFE”

KÁLMÁN, Kata and BOLDIZSÁR, Iván. Tiborc. WITH: Tiborc új Arca. (Budapest): Cserepfalvi; Müvelt Nép, (1937); 1955. Two volumes. Slim quarto, original light gray-green cloth. $3600.

First editions of two famous photobooks, published separately 18 years apart, depicting Hungarian farm-workers before and after World War II, with 24 and 34 striking portraits, respectively. Tiborc új Arca is inscribed by Boldizsár on the half title and dated November 1955.

Taking over two decades to complete, this longitudinal study of Hungarian farm-workers stands as a seminal photographic commentary on social change. Tiborc (Hungarian slang for "peasant") and Tiborc új Arca (The New Face of Tiborc) are regarded as benchmarks in sociological photography. Kálmán and Boldizsár were members of "a group of progressive intellectuals in the 1930s— composed of sociologists, artists, writers and researchers— who sought to raise public awareness about the plight of exploited agricultural and industrial workers" (Parr & Badger, 140). From 1934 to 1937 Kálmán made portraits and Boldizsár conducted interviews, resulting in Tiborc, a benchmark photobook of pre-war peasant life. In 1955 the two returned to the Hungarian countryside and revisited their original subjects (or their descendants), with the surprising finding that these same workers reflected a feeling of progress and sense of optimism for the future. Text in Hungarian. Parr & Badger, 140.

Interiors fine. Front inner hinge of Tiborc új Arca starting. Very desirable copies in about-fine condtion, almost never found together. Rare.