Iván Köves
Iván Köves (born May 26, 1926 in Kiskunhalas ; † August 20, 2015 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian- born photographer , author , musician , art historian and lecturer in art education with German nationality . Köves became known as the father of dialectical imagery, which he developed in theory and practice. He was considered the “philosopher of the camera”, who viewed photography merely as a craft and a prosthesis of his mind in order to represent his creative thoughts.
He wrote numerous illustrated books and city portraits, which he designed according to the principles of dialectical imagery. Many prominent personalities had their photos taken by him, including the writer Günter Grass , the politician Willy Brandt , the musicians Martha Argerich , Antal Doráti and Yehudi Menuhin , the pantomime Samy Molcho and the actors Yul Brunner and Mariann Moór .
Life
Iván Köves grew up in a wealthy Jewish family in Kiskunhalas and Janoshalma . His mother Ilona Stein died of a lung disease in 1930, his father Károly Schwarcz was deported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz during the war and killed in 1944. At the age of 18, Köves was obliged to do labor service by the Nazis and was only not shot because he was a musician. After the war , Köves completed a music degree at the Franz Liszt Academy and a degree in art and philosophy in Budapest. There he began his career as a cello soloist . As a conscientious objector and avowed pacifist , he was sentenced to several years in prison in 1949 and interned .
In 1956 he fled the communists from Hungary, initially to Baden near Vienna . There he founded the Philharmonia Hungarica together with other musicians who had fled . The symphony orchestra quickly achieved fame and relocated its headquarters to the up-and-coming Ruhr city of Marl in Germany at the invitation of the then mayor Rudolf Heiland .
Already in Vienna , Köves became interested in photography and used it as a tool for his creative work. In 1958 he won 1st, 3rd and 7th prizes out of 6000 works submitted at the international photo exhibition “realité” in Paris , in which the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was one of the judges.
In 1962, one of his works won the title “World's Best Photo” at the international competition in Palermo , Italy . This was followed by numerous exhibitions. B. in Vienna, Paris, Palermo and Munich with the topics "Through the optics to the thought " and "From the thought to the image". "In 1963, the demonstration exhibition on his philosophical imagery was thesis - antithesis " in the Fritz-Henssler-Haus in Dortmund by Theodor Adorno opened. In the following years it was shown in various major German cities. Helmuth de Haas of Die Welt wrote on October 20, 1962: “This Köves is a poet. He does not blindly shoot facades, pure documentation is not enough for him (although his method makes it child's play), he is a composer, and musical vision would be roughly the keyword for his technique of grasping realities dynamically. "
Quotation from the exhibition overview of the international exhibition of the cultural history museum Osnabrück , 1972, on the picture visions of the future:
“The image of visions of the future was abstracted into a vision of the technical world using concrete means. The area is a fairground. Objects are the carousel and the ferris wheel. The goal is a symbolic sketch of an age that has already become our present. The rocket shoots up out of the ground, through the outlines of the colliery and the vegetation of nature on the lower edge of the picture. The circular path of the gondolas intersects that of the ferris wheel and suggests the Niels-Bohr model of the atom . The electrons circling around the nucleus illustrate the concept of the atom. At the same time, the problem of visualization is treated as a spiritual dimension, which here, as in our other compositions, does not serve the goal but as a component. Movement is an integral part of this composition, not depicted as a photographic blurring, but as symbolized acoustics transformed into sound - the merging of the individual picture elements (resonating spokes) creates the sound impression - just as music often evokes visual impressions in the listener, the composer with sounds paints, so here there is the possibility of composing with light, which lets gray tones rustle. The subject - the title of the picture - should be fixed with the dynamic means of expression. An apparent development (from vegetation to conventional technology to the atom) remains an earth-bound vicious circle. "
Iván Köves wrote didactic , art-theoretical and cultural-political writings, such as B. in 1963 on visual communication . In 1964 he married Henrike Czioska , who was born in Katowice , Poland and lives in Marl. She and their daughter Ariana often served him as a model for his illustrated books and advertising contracts. Henrike Czioska also supported her husband with the layout design and preparation of his books.
In 1964, Köves used creative photography as an architectural element ( art in architecture ). The world's first photo fresco with the title “Best-Zeit-Story” served as a wall design for the cafe of the Marl indoor swimming pool in the format 8 m × 1.60 m. It shows a young swimmer in competition. The shape of this visual representation arises from the laws of music, strictly speaking from the sequence-like structure of the song "America" from Bernstein's West Side Story . The graphic themes and sequences become elements to stylize the sport of the best-time story. On March 20, 1964, the Westfälische Rundschau commented : "Iván Köves took a new path: photo frescoes as part of the architecture."
This was followed by the ceiling fresco in the Ernst Immel secondary school in the city of Marl with the title “Justicia”. A representation of justice is the basic idea for the 180 square meter composition. It consists of photographically designed individual objects that are thematically oriented towards a central idea. Various desirable goals of people living in society are presented. From handicraft to science, art and sport to technology. The composition is an association of suggested figures and figures.
In 1972 his international exhibition “Abstratio” and his cultural-philosophical treatise “Dialectical Imagery” premiered, exhibited and published by the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum . In 1976 the work “Communicative Meditation” was published on behalf of the Diocese of Münster , in which he reflected on “becoming human” with the help of his visual language. Between 1969 and 1988 other books on visual language appeared. For this he received honorable recognition from the German Association of Cities and the former member of the European Parliament Leo Tindemans .
In 1979 Köves gave a lecture at the 25th Ordinary Congress of the European Union in Darmstadt . In the 1990s, he was interviewed and portrayed several times by Hungarian television and radio. After the turnaround in 1994, Köves finally returned to Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian President Arpad Göncz . There he was a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Szolnok and Baja . He also published other books, which were also followed by exhibitions. Even in old age he was committed to peace and justice and advocated it publicly.
In May 2015 Iván Köves was honored by the city of Marl for his work “Best-Zeit-Story” at a festive symposium. For this he traveled from Budapest to his former adopted home Marl. A year later, a revision of the fresco “Best-Zeit-Story”, colored by his grandson Jamin Mahmood according to Köve's ideas, was officially handed over to the city of Marl. This should be placed in the entrance area of the Guido-Heiland-Bad Marl.
Publications
- Marl - Marl impressions. 1966, Aurel Bongers, Recklinghausen
- Dülmen - faces of a small town. 1967, Munster Coppenrath
- Lünen - objective. 1968, Aurel Bongers, Recklinghausen
- Traunreut - the face of a city. 1970, Alois Erdl KG, Trostberg
- Marl. 1971, press office of the Marl administration
- Cuxhaven - Variations on a Theme. 1972, Christian Wolff, Flensburg
- Lünen - city with green light. 1973, Lünen city administration
- Neukirchen-Vluyn Niederrhein - Presentation in 4 sentences. 1973, Neukirchen-Vluyn municipality
- Borken - present and retrospect. 1976, Aurel Bongers, Recklinghausen
- Dülmen double photo book: A city with a heart and green lungs / wild horses. 1979, Bacht GmbH, Essen
- Communicative meditation - example Jugendburg Gemen. 1984, Book and Image Service Gemen
- Paracelsus Clinic in the city of Marl. 1988, published by B + B Druck GmbH
- Marl "Claim - Space - Living Space" . 1989, Bacht GmbH, Essen, ISBN 3-87034-043-6
- Life cycle dialogue (30 years Marienhospital Marl). 1991, Bacht GmbH, Essen
- Philharmonia Hungarica 1957-2001. With the journalist Szőke Cecília, 2006, Budapest, ISBN 963-86157-2-9
- ABSZTRÁCIÓ - Vizuális kommunikáció és dialektikus képnyelv. 2007, print 2000 Nyomda, Kecskemét, Hungary, ISBN 978-963-86601-7-6
- Zsinagóga Kiskunhalason . With Somodi Henrietta, 2014, Kiskunhalas
Awards
- 1958: Main prize at the international photo exhibition "realité" in Paris, France
- 1962: World's best photo at the international competition in Palermo, Italy
- 2014: Honorary citizenship of the city of Janoshalma , Hungary
Individual evidence
- ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Hungary: Dispute over Nazi occupation memorial | DW | 05/08/2014. Retrieved February 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Marl mourns the loss of Ivan Köves †. Retrieved February 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Siegfried Schönfeld: Symposium: Artwork “Best-Zeit Story” by Ivan Köves in the old indoor swimming pool Marl 009. Accessed on February 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Mourning for Ivan Köves. September 1, 2015, accessed February 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Appreciation for the visual language artist Ivan Köves. Retrieved February 10, 2019 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Köves, Iván |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German photographer, author, musician, art historian and lecturer in art education |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 26, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kiskunhalas |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th August 2015 |
| Place of death | Budapest |