Ărpád SzĂ©lpál, the Social Photographer
Being influenced by Galilei-Circle and Lajos Kassák, Ărpád SzĂ©lpál (born in TörökszentmiklĂłs-1897, died in
France-1987), was effected by leftist ideology. He worked as a clerk, but he was also occupied with writing
avant-garde poems and got acquainted with fine-arts. Upon Lajos Kassák’s advice he deepened his self-educated
knowledge about photography. From the autumn of 1929 his reports were published in NĂ©pszava Newspaper. In the
week-end issues of the newspaper he illustrated his essays about social problems of Budapest with his own photos.
Later his essays became frequent. From 1938 there were only a few week-end editions without Szélpál’s social
reports. The connection between Szélpál and Népszava had different aspect, too. In 1934 he became literature
editor instead of Ede Bresztovszky. He took important role in publishing Attila József’s poems in Népszava.
Before he was forced to leave Hungary (1939), more than a thousand social photos were published in NĂ©pszava.
The popular newspaper enabled that his photos became well-known. So we can declare that publishing in NĂ©pszava,
Szélpál can be the most important figure of Hungarian social photography between the two World Wars.
He was sending reports from France to NĂ©pszava for a short time, but never returned to Hungary.
During the 1980s a professor from TörökszentmiklĂłs, Dr. Imre FehĂ©r paid special attention to Ărpád SzĂ©lpál’s
works. He published a letter-interview in FotoArt Magazine, so Szélpál’s lifework as a social photographer could
become well-known.
BĂ©la Albertini, an expert of Hungarian social photography presents his life and analyses his work as a social
photographer. During his researches he was collecting all Szélpál-photos published in Népszava; moreover he
prepared a complete bibliography and annotation of his reports. This kind of organisation is also important,
because it reflects the lively atmosphere of the newspaper at that time. Namely only a few pieces of original
editions were remained from the 1930s.
The Szélpál-monography, based on primer researches shows the best tradition of Hungarian press-photo history.
Book-readers can get acquainted with a considerable piece of Népszava’s past.
Photos from the book
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