Tibor Huszár, a famous Slovak photographer, died on Wednesday, September 11, at the age of 61. In the late 1970s Huszár studied art photography at the Academy of Film and Theatre in Prague; afterwards he worked for various magazines and media. Often coined as a “photographer of the Roma community”, he has also documented the theatre world, the Velvet revolution, prisoner revolts in Slovakia, miners, or wooden churches.
Starting in the 1990s, he left for New York where he worked as an independent lecturer, visiting artist at some respectable institutions like the Columbia University or the New York University. He has also documented the daily lives of New Yorkers in the cycle called New York – the city of tolerance.
He spent more than 15 years photographing Roma and his Cigáni (Gypsy) series is one of the most notable. Huszár received many awards, both Slovak and foreign, including the Golden Plaque from the International Triennial of Theatre Photography, Yugoslavia 1983 and the Trebbia award for supporting art, creativity and contribution to dialogue, in Prague, 2011.
Andrej Bán, one of his colleagues from the field of documentary photography, remembers Huszár’s legacy:
“I think that with Tibor leaving, the most important Slovak documentary photographer who was born in the post-war era has left as well. Tibor has created unforgettable pieces of work, all in the spirit of classic black-white documentary photography, which truly depicts the everyday lives of people - both the common people, like the Roma in their settlements, whom he really liked and often returned to, but he also did portraits of important people – artists, politicians or businessmen. He was a big, energetic and charismatic person.”
