[Mother with Child on Beach]

Martin Munkácsi

1920s · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Beach scenes were Martin Munkácsi’s specialty, and he had an eye for the small dramas and indignities of a day at the shore. Many of his photographs for the German illustrated press show splashed sunbathers and sandy children in states of comedic distress. Here, he disrupts a seaside scene after the fact, by printing it from a shattered negative. Staging this striking intervention in his darkroom, Munkácsi wryly reflects on his own reputation for photographic spontaneity.

Artist

Martin Munkácsi

Date

1920s

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987