Visual Representations of the Modern Metropolis. Interconnections of Literature and Fine Art Photography

Abstract

The visual approach of the Hungarian metropolis begins with the dimensions of the European metropolis. The city is the first large-scale theme in modern culture, inspiring an endless line of images, the place of worship of European modernism, the place where things happen: the place we arrive by mail or train. The flâneur, who walks around the city, takes on the role of a screenwriter and director, including a photographer, who turns fragments of other people’s lives into a story of their choice. The locations of texts and images, the forecourts, the passages, the streets, according to the items of modern urban architecture discourse, are merely ‘empty spaces’, a places which they are given a meaning arising from the cultural and regional contexts. These areas will start to function as spaces of theatricality, the street will be a public part of the city, where groups belonging to different cultural backgrounds and traditions will meet. The characters of the artist looking for a model appear more and more often among the characteristics of the artists. The protagonist, who look at the sights offered by the street, who will become more and more photographers in addition to the poet, writer, journalist, painter and sculptor documenting modernity.

Photo: Fortepan/ Budapest City Archives. Archival reference: HU.BFL.XV.19.d.1.05.153