There are too many photos. It can be surprising to be written down by a curator, but this is a fact. Each
day millions of photos are taken and most are developed and kept. Choices must be done in each minute, all
the time and we must evaluate our choices and, if necessary, revise them. We should accept, and it is me who
says it, that a significant portion of existing pictures has no elements of value. These merely exist, have
been taken, nobody uses them for anything, but nobody either takes the responsibility or nuisance to get rid
of them.
And then there are photos - a great number of them - that have local value due to their topics,
delineation, and the person who has taken them or for any other special reasons. These photos have their
value in their own place but if they are taken away from there, they get devalued. As the majority of
Hungarian photographic collections is organised by some special aspects, this local system of values covers
everything else. If someone is looking for some more general values, he must note and accept the local rules
of the game. And if he does so and works his way through, his persistence is crowned with success - as in
genuine tales - and he will find the photos that do have national value among the specially grouped photos.
I would include here the ones that play outstanding role in a nation’s intellectual self-assessment,
conscience and culture. Those pictures also belong here which are decisive pieces in the development of
photography’s development in Hungary or represent a certain trend. The works of significant authors also
have place here together with the Hungarian related photos of significant foreign artists. The experimental
works enhancing the development of photographic technology and its development cannot be neglected either.
And now we have reached the top of the pyramid. Among the photos with national value you can find a
relatively small number with universal value. These ones do belong to the universal history of photography,
no matter what the points of evaluation are. They are registered in the universal history of photography and
they qualify the photography of a certain nation retrospectively as well. These photos appear on
international auctions and it is of rank to possess one in your collection.
This exhibition and the volume entitled Treasures of the Hungarian Museum of Photography are by no means
complete inventories. It is a selection that can help researchers or those interested to get around in the
Hungarian Museum of Photography. So that the selection could be more complete and consequent, we should
establish a national hierarchy of values taking into consideration all the factors that create value. They
would help researchers, museum specialists, collectors and traders to get informed in the photographic much
richer treasures of other nations. This system of values should consider the quality of the picture, its
unique character, its technical or other speciality, its availability and condition, the installation, the
way of its introduction, the legality of copy right and ownership, the author’s fame and the prevailing
trend as well that places a period in photographic history before the other ones … Well, if we apply these
principles consequently when establishing the Hungarian value hierarchy and use good marketing methods –a
lot of exhibitions, publications, essays published in foreign magazines– we can get it acquainted with the
world, raise it high so as to be seen from a great distance.
