This is the portrait of Erno Weisz,23 year-old factor worker, taken by Kata Kalman in Budapest in 1932. It is exposed in the National Art Gallery in Washington,D.C.
(size:9 1/2 x 6 15/16 inches)
This picture in black and white represents the portait of a tired man. His face as a whole looks young but his wrinkles and the look in his eyes make him look older, as if he had been through a lot already. The use only of black and white here helps the eyes catching the viewer attention. The white in this man's eyes get out in the photography and attracts us to view the eyes with more details than any other part of his face. Indeed, it seems like they have a story to tell us, a message to pass on to their viewers.
After World War I, life gets harder in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe. Here, the artist denounces through her art work the difficult working conditions from which suffer adults and children in Budapest. Indeed, the lower classes do all the "dirty" and demanding work, put up with many hours a day and are paid a miserable salary. In fact, the face of this young man itself is enough to depict the hardness of his labor: his wrinkles and his tired eyes speek for themselves. He looks like someone who is not expecting much more of life, do not have much expectations because he learnt to let his ambitions behind in order most likely to try guaranteing the most decent life conditions for his family.
Kata Kalman's goal was indeed to show to the richer classes what was the daily life of their poorer neighbors:
"Her photographs of workers, Gypsy girls and the children of the poor, introduced the middle class audience to a segment of society who lived within their apartments as servants but about whom they knew little. The physical distance was hardly noticeable but socially they lived worlds apart." (http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artist,show,1,48,0,0,0,0,0,0,kata_kalman.html)
Indeed, she realized her goals to open up the world to the dramatic case of the working conditions in which her people, in her country, suffered from and which were, until that time, completely ignored. Maybe, she was also hoping for some understanding from the richer Hungrian which could have tried helping those in need and changing the situation.
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