John Albok photographs
Collection Overview
Photography--History--20th Century.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Biographical Note
John Albok (JA) was born in Munkacs, Hungary, on November 21, 1894. He was originally known as Janos Albok, changing his first name to John when he immigrated to the United States in 1921, at the age of 26. JA was the eldest of eleven children. At the age of eight, he started working at his father's tailor shop. JA learned photography as a young boy yet developed a career as a tailor, receiving a large silver medal for the most outstanding student in 1911 in a master tailor's school. Eventually settling in New York City, he opened a one-man tailor shop on Madison Avenue, between 96th and 97th Street. During his leisure time he continued to pursue his interest in photography, photographing functions for Hungarian churches and synagogues and shooting portraits in the store. He also documented his neighborhood and the depression era. In 1929 JA won first prize in the Eastman Kodak Amateur Picture Contest for his portrait of daughter Ilona. In 1933 he was the triple prize winner of the Daily Snapshot Contest, and between 1938 and 1942, he won fifteen prizes in the prestigious New York Herald Tribune Amateur Photo Contest. His work has been exhibited in several shows including: the first solo exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, "Faces of the City;" Rye Arts Center, "American Dream;" The New York Public Library, "Self Portraits, Prints & Photographs;" a one-man show at the FDR Library, Hyde Park, New York, "New York City During the Roosevelt Years, 1933-1945;" and a retrospective, "Tailored Images," at the Museum of the City of New York in 1982. JA passed away days before the opening of his final show. A documentary film was produced by Gordon Hyatt on JA in 1966, "John Albok's New York." This film aired on CBS and won an Emmy Award nomination. JA's work is in the collections of many institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in California, Museum of the City of New York, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.
| 1894 | Born Janos Albok in Munkacs, Hungry, November 21. Eldest of eleven children. | |
| 1904 | Works in Fathers tailor shop at age eight. | |
| 1907 | Exchanges binoculars for Kodak Brownie box camera. Builds a darkroom in the basement of the family home. Begins apprenticeship with master tailor. | |
| 1911 | Travels to Debrecen, Hungary to enroll in a master tailor's school. Receives large silver medal for most outstanding student. | |
| 1917 | Inducted into the Hungarian Army. Continues his interest in photography by documenting prison life using a folding camera with a double anastigmatic lens. All but one of the photographs was exhibited, never to be returned to him. | |
| 1919 | Father and two sisters die during the war. | |
| 1921 | Immigrates to America at the age of twenty-six and settles in New York City. At Ellis Island, his baggage contains a pair of tailor shears, violin, and a 5x7 wooden camera. | |
| 1923 | Establishes John Albok-Merchant Tailor, a one-man tailor shop on Madison Avenue, between 96th and 97th Streets. | |
| 1924 | Marries Ilona Kiss. Lives a few blocks away from the tailor shop at 112th Street and Madison Avenue. | |
| 1925 | First and only child, Ilona, is born. Purchases a 16mm Simplex Pocket movie camera. Moves to a new apartment at 50 E. 96th Street. | |
| 1927 | Business thrives. Moves to a new six-room apartment at 1391 Madison Avenue. | |
| 1929 | Wins first prize in the Eastman Kodak Amateur Picture Contest for his portrait of daughter Ilona taken with the 5x7 camera brought from Hungary. | |
| 1930 | Depression strikes. Forced to close the Madison Avenue tailor shop. Works as a tailor and portrait photographer out of two rooms in the ground floor apartment at 1391 Madison Avenue. | |
| 1932 | Reopens the tailor shop at 1391 Madison Avenue, which doubles as an art gallery. In the evenings behind closed curtains it becomes a social club for artists, musicians, and writers. | |
| 1933 | Triple prize winner of the Daily Snapshot Contest sponsored by Chrysler Tower Corp. and the "Daily Mirror." | |
| 1938 | First solo exhibition, "Faces of the City" at the Museum of the City of New York, curated by Grace Mayer. Wins fifteen prizes in the prestigious New York Herald Tribune Amateur Photo Contest between 1938 and 1942. Opens World's Fair Studio, a portrait studio on 96th St. between Lexington and Park Avenue. Lectures are presented in the evenings. Purchases a 16mm Bell and Howell camera. Moves his family to an apartment above the tailor shop. | |
| 1939 | Invited to exhibit and lecture at The Rockefeller Center Camera Club at Radio City Music Hall. Roams the streets with the movie camera producing a body of work concerning the labor movement. Produces a portfolio of work on the New York World's Fair, comprising nearly 200 prints, and approximately 300 medium format, black-and-white negatives. | |
| 1950-1960 | Continues selling portraiture, along with tailoring. Concentrates on photographing large areas of New York City such as Rockefeller Center and Central Park. | |
| 1960's | CBS discovers Albok's work, and subsequently produces a documentary of Albok's photographs; "John Albok's New York" receives an Emmy nomination, and the Cine Golden Eagle Award in Washington, D.C. Many prints are acquired during these years by museums and private collectors. Sales to Coronet, Esquire, Seagram's, Rand McNally, MacMillan Publishing Co., and others. | |
| 1966 | Solo exhibition, "Through the Eye of a Needle," organized by CBS for the International Photography Fair at the New York Coliseum. International venue of "John Albok's New York" includes Italy, Scotland, England, Egypt, and Germany. Group exhibition, "Camera Out of Doors, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. | |
| 1970 | At the request of Hungarian People's Republic's Ambassador, Albok attends the laying of the wreath at the NYC grave of Bela Bartok, the great Hungarian composer. Albok's photographs of this event are published in the Budapest newspaper, "Magyar Hirek." | |
| 1973-75 | Solo exhibition, "New York City During the Roosevelt Years, 1933-1945, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. | |
| 1976 | Solo exhibition, "The Hungarian Chronicler," at Magyar Munkasmozgalmi Museum, the worker's museum in the Budavari Palace, Budapest, Hungary. | |
| 1977 | One-person exhibition at the Pratt Institute School of Art and Design, Brooklyn, NY. | |
| 1979 | "John Albok: Merchant Tailor," a Swedish documentary film, is produced and receives recognition in Cannes, France at the Television Fair. "Those Golden Years," another Swedish documentary that portrays Albok as a senior citizen, is broadcast on PBS-WNET channel 13. | |
| 1980 | Two-person exhibition, "New York in the Thirties-Faces and Facades," with Berenice Abbott, organized by the Museum of the City of New York, makes a debut in Berlin and later in Heidelberg, Germany. | |
| 1981 | Retires from the tailor shop due to failing health. | |
| 1982 | Retrospective exhibition, "Tailored Images," opens at the Museum of the City of New York. One hundred and forty images are featured, co-curated by daughter Ilona. John Albok dies at age 87 on January 9, one day before the opening of his tribute exhibition. Eulogized nationwide by Charles Kuralt. | |
| 1982 to present | Posthumous credits include thirty one-person and group exhibitions, and numerous inclusions in periodicals, journals, and publications by museums and galleries. | |
| 1994 | "John Albok's New York: A Personal Vision" at the Laurence Miller Gallery, New York. October 27-December 3, 1994. | |
| 1997 | "Through the Eye of the Needle," retrospective exhibition at Budapest Gallery, Hungary. Approximately 120 photographs. Catalog published in conjunction with the exhibit. | |
| 1998 | "New York: A Sidewalk View: John Albok, Helen Levitt, Walter Rosenblum," at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery, Dallas, Texas. May 1-June 13, 1998. |
Scope and Content Note
The John Albok photographs consist of nine black-and-white photographs. The photographs were donated by John Albok's (JA) daughter, Ilona Albok Vitarius. Seven of the photographs were taken on the opening day of the Frank Lloyd designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum building on October 26, 1959. The majority of the photographs are of events that occurred during the opening day such as a couple outside the museum; exterior view of the museum; four people viewing sculpture; and views of the exhibition and artwork. The eighth and ninth photographs are images of David Smith's "Cubi XXVII," taken in 1969. All of the photographs are gelatin-silver prints.
Folder List
| Box | Folder | Title | Date | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Day, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | |||||||||||||
| 000514 | Couple outside Museum | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | Exterior View of Museum | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | Four Women outside Museum | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | Interior Exhibition | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | "Onlookers" | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | Partial View of Museum and High Rises | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | Sculpture on Exhibit | October 26, 1959 | |||||||||||
| 000514 | David Smith Exhibition: Installation Views (2 photographs) | 1969 | |||||||||||
