About the Artist

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  • Imre Kinszki. Self-Portrait. c. 1930. Gelatin silver print, 3 x 2 1/2" (8 x 6.2 cm). Courtesy of Vintage Gallery, Budapest. © 2014 Judit Kinszki/ Vintage Gallery, Budapest

    Born in 1901, Imre Kinszki was raised in Budapest, where he studied medicine and published articles on philosophy and politics. In 1920, anti-Semitic legislation set a limit on the number of Jewish students allowed at the university, preventing him from completing his degree; instead he found work as an archivist for the National Association of Industrialists. In 1926 his wife gave him his first camera, and his interest in science led him to photography with a microscope; in 1930 he invented the 6 by 6 centimeter (2 3/8 by 2 3/8 inch) Kinsecta camera for macrophotography. He joined the Magyar Amatőrfényképezők Országos Szövetsége (National association of Hungarian amateur photographers, or MAOSZ) in 1931, but soon became disenchanted by the group’s traditional Pictorialist values. During this period he began contributing photographs and articles on technical subjects to photography publications in Hungary and abroad, including Pesti napló képes műmelléklet, Fotoműveszeti hírek, National Geographic, Popular Photography, and Képes vasárnap. He resigned from MAOSZ in 1936 and in 1937 co-founded the Modern Magyar Fényképezők Egyesületét (Association of modern Hungarian photographers), which organized the Daguerre Centenary Exhibition in the same year. In 1939 Kinszki coedited the album Magyar fényképezés (Hungarian photography). Throughout the 1930s Kinszki was a participant in many national and international exhibitions as well as a correspondent of prominent photographers such as László Moholy-Nagy, Brassaï, and Albert Renger-Patzsch. Always an advocate for modernism in photography, he photographed urban life and experimented with new technology to photograph motion and night scenes. Despite having converted from Judaism to Greek Orthodox Christianity, he was taken into forced labor in 1943 and died while marching to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in early 1945.

    —Kelly Cannon

Meeting Points

Artist Chronology

March 10, 1901
Born
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1901–45
Lives in Budapest
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1918
Studies medicine and biology at the University of Sciences and Humanities
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1921
Begins photographing
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1921
Works as an archivist for the Hungarian Union of Manufacturers
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1930
Invents the KINSECTA camera for close-up photography
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1931
Contributes to Fotóművészeti Hírek and other domestic and international photography journals
Contributor: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1931–36
Member of the Magyar Amatőrfényképezők Országos Szövetsége (MAOSZ)
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
May 27–November 12, 1933
Century of Progress International Photographic Salon at the Chicago Camera Club
Korth is the official photographer of the exposition.
Participant: Edward Steichen, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Imre Kinszki, Fred Korth, József Pécsi
Chicago
1937–38
Contributes to American Photography, Buvar, Nyugat, Aurora, and Huszadik Szazad
Contributor: Imre Kinszki
New York Budapest
1937
Helps found the Society of Modern Hungarian Photographers
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
October 23–November 7, 1937
Modern Hungarian Photography
Participant: György Kepes, André Kertész, Martin Munkácsi, József Pécsi
Organizer: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1938–39
Participates in many international exhibitions and photography salons
Participant: Imre Kinszki
New York Paris Prague London
1939
Converts to Greek Orthodox Christianity
At location: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
1943–45
Interned in forced-labor camp
At location: Imre Kinszki
Deva Celldömölk Budapest
February 16, 1943
His final published photographs and writings appear in Képes Vasárnap
Contributor: Imre Kinszki
Budapest
Spring 1945
Dies on the death march to Sachsenhausen
At location: Imre Kinszki
Sachsenhausen

Walther Photographs

View this artist's works in MoMA's Online Collection

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