ABSTRACT
In recent years historians have devoted significant attention to Brazilian modernist painting and literature, but much less has been written about mid-20th-century Brazilian photography. The 1940s and 1950s saw a tremendous rise in the popularity of photography in Brazil and its global dissemination through amateur photo leagues, photography exhibitions, illustrated magazines, and photo books. Together these venues formed a vital infrastructure that supported the proliferation and circulation of photographic images and promoted formal experimentation. This chapter examines Hungarian-Brazilian photographer Thomaz Farkas’ (1924–2011) participation in and navigation of local and international photographic networks. Vivacious and experimental, Farkas became one of Brazilian photography’s greatest champions in his adopted city of São Paulo: he published articles and photographs in popular magazines, organized Brazil’s first museum exhibition of photography, participated in the regionally important Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante, and helped establish a photo lab at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Farkas’ early career traces Brazil’s photographic networks, demonstrating their impact on the country’s cultural development and the international photographic community.
