He was a photographer, an artist, owner of the Golden Diploma title, a specialist, a teacher and collector, and one of the best in each area. Without his work and individuality the history of Hungarian photography would be incomplete. Whatever he touched turned to gold in his hands. His pictorial portraits, landscapes, fashion and advertisement photographs which incorporate the results of the Neue Sachlichkeit, still life's, avant-garde nudes, and portraits done with a new pictorial approach have all proven to stand the test of time, and in many cases even created schools of style. His interesting facial features have inspired many painters.
Born as the son of a well-to-do middle class family in Budapest Pécsi began his photographic career as an amateur in 1903 painting portraits along the side, drawing a lot, and playing the piano and the bassoon very well. He graduated secondary school majoring in trade in 1906 and studied at the photographic academy in Munich between 19091911. From here he graduated with merit and was awarded the most highly esteemed German professional photographic distinction, the Dührkoop-medal. He took off with a flying start. From this time on he received awards and acknowledgments continuously, each of higher esteem than the one before: a gold medal from Rome and Moscow in 1911, a year later a diploma of acknowledgment from the 5th Congress of the International Professional Photographers' Association held in Paris. Another year later he was appointed honorable member of the Salon of Photography of London. Several cities awarded his work: Göteborg in 1929, Vienna in 1929 and 1934, Amsterdam in 1932, and in 1934 Milan, host of the World Exhibit of Applied Arts that year.
Alongside his creative activity he began to pass on his knowledge at quite an early stage. If a study is ever published on the history of Hungarian photographic education, his name will be one of the first to be mentioned. Commissioned by the capital city he founded the photography department of the Budapest School of Industrial Drawing in 1913 thus solving a long unsolved problem: professional photographers were finally able to partake in organized training. This time, however, the well deserved award was late in coming: in 1920 his professorship was revoked due to his leftist views. He was only rehabilitated in 1946.
The doors to his first studio in Budapest were opened in 1911. In 1916 he moved to his legendary studio apartment under 8 Dorottya Street, the interior of which was designed by the most famous architect of the time, Lajos Kozma. Although he could not continue teaching officially in a state school his studio was always full of students. Some of them were the descendants of aristocratic or upper middle-class families while others were family members of foreign representatives. Some became famous later on: Éva Besnyő, Éva Barta, Zsuzsa Pintér, Margit Kelen, and Ernő Vajda's son László Bruck. In 1917 he organized an exhibit of his students' work entitled Student Photographs.
Pécsi was quite well traveled. He collected 18th century French furniture, paintings and textiles with expertise and became a true connoisseur of art. Forty years after his death it is still entrancing to step into what was once his salon. His book on advertisement photography, Photo und Publizität, the first book ever published on this topic, was published a year later. Reprint copies of it are still being sold throughout the world to this day. It is no exaggeration to state that Pécsi turned advertisement photography into a form of art and by doing so founded a school of photography. He was also a master of self-portraiture and nudes. The first nude portfolio published is tied to his name. While taking superb photographs in the spirit of the new photographic style, he was a master in all the permanent processes. He wrote an article on the oil technique (1928) and on the permanent processes (1940). In 1952 he patented the combined duplex pigment print he called PEJO. If he was commissioned to do a work for which he did not have the adequate camera he would construct or redesign one. He took the portraits of many famous people: Béla Bartók, Kassák, Kosztolányi, József Egry, Pablo Casals, Anna Pavlova, Nijinsky... He was the one commissioned to take pictures of Rákosi on his 60th birthday. The Deutsche Kunst and the English Studio published his works several times.
He was vice president of the Photographer's Guild of Budapest and editor of its professional paper Hungarian Photography where several of his articles appeared. From 1932 he bore the Golden Diploma title.
Fleeing from the Nazis he and his wife sought safety in the town of Nagyvárad where his brother-in- law was the police chief. His studio in Dorottya Street burned down during the siege of Budapest and by the time they returned to the capital city in 1946 they found only a fraction of their belongings, their library, paintings, photographs and negatives. The last ten years of Pécsi’s life symbolize the ”glory” of the socialism which existed in Hungary: The very person who between 1911 and 1940 won 17 high ranking awards, among them 5 gold and 5 silver medals, along with dozens of certificates and plaques, had to make a living taking photographs for identification booklets and portraits in his apartment on Vámház Ring. In a letter to one of his ex-students living abroad he asks for a winter coat, used but in good condition. He died at the age of 67 after a long illness. A plaque on the wall of 8 Dorottya Street keeps his memory alive. Luckily many of his books are being republished and exhibits of his work are frequent. His place in the realm of Hungarian photography is solid. The most important award in the area of advertisement photography is named after him.