Nickolas Muray

Nickolas Muray (born Miklós Mandl;^[1] 15 February 1892 – 2 November 1965) was a Hungarian-born American photographer and Olympic saber fencer.

Muray was born in Szeged, Hungary, and was Jewish.^[2][3][4] His father Samu Mandl was a postal worker, and his mother Klara Lovit was a homemaker.^[5] In 1894 his family moved to Budapest.^[5] He attended a graphic arts school in Budapest, where he studied lithography, photoengraving, and photography.^[5] After earning an International Engraver's Certificate, Muray took a three-year course in color photoengraving in Berlin, where, among other things, he learned to make color filters. At the end of his course he went to work for the publishing company Ullstein-Verlag.^[5]

His first wife was Hungarian literary figure Ilona Fulop, but they divorced.^[6] He then married Leja Gorska in 1921, but they also divorced.^[6] Muray in June 1930 married Monica O’Shea, who was in the advertising business, and they ultimately divorced.^[6] On 23 July 1942, he married his last wife, Margaret Schwab.^[6] He had a decade-long, passionate love affair and lasting friendship with artist Frida Kahlo. Kahlo, known for several male & female lovers, said that only Muray rivaled Diego for Frida's deepest affection. Although, she chose a second-round at marriage with Rivera, her personal love and respect of Muray, lasted far longer than her passion for Rivera. Muray & Kahlo maintained deeply intimate correspondence for years after their affair, right up until days before her death.^[6]

In 1913 Muray sailed to New York City, and was able to find work as a color printer in Brooklyn.^[5]

Para 1920, Muray había abierto un estudio de retratos en su casa en Greenwich Village , mientras seguía trabajando en su empleo sindical como grabador. ^{[ 5 ]} En 1921 recibió un encargo de Harper's Bazaar para hacer un retrato de la actriz de Broadway Florence Reed ; poco después, sus fotografías se publicaban cada mes en Harper's Bazaar y pudo dejar su trabajo de grabador. En 1922 también hizo un retrato de la bailarina Desha Delteil .

Muray pronto se consagró como un importante fotógrafo de retratos, y entre sus modelos se encontraban la mayoría de las celebridades de la ciudad de Nueva York. En 1926, Vanity Fair lo envió a Londres, París y Berlín para fotografiar a famosos, y en 1929 lo contrató para fotografiar a estrellas de cine en Hollywood. También realizó trabajos de moda y publicidad. Las imágenes de Muray se publicaron en muchas otras publicaciones, como Vogue , Ladies' Home Journal y The New York Times . ^{[ 7 ] [ 8 ]}

Entre 1920 y 1940, Muray realizó más de 10.000 retratos. Su retrato de Frida Kahlo de 1938 , realizado mientras Kahlo se encontraba de paso en Nueva York, asistiendo a su exposición en la Galería Julien Levy , se convirtió en el retrato más conocido y querido de Muray. ^{[ 9 ]} Muray y Kahlo estaban en la cúspide de un romance de diez años en 1939 cuando se realizó el retrato. Su romance había comenzado en 1931, después de que Muray se divorciara de su segunda esposa y poco después del matrimonio de Kahlo con el muralista mexicano Diego Rivera . Sobrevivió al tercer matrimonio de Muray y al divorcio y nuevo matrimonio de Kahlo con Rivera por un año, terminando en 1941. Muray quería casarse, pero cuando se hizo evidente que Kahlo lo quería como amante, no como esposo, Muray se marchó definitivamente y se casó con su cuarta esposa, Peggy (Margaret) Muray. ^{[ 10 ]} Él y Kahlo siguieron siendo buenos amigos hasta la muerte de ella, en 1954. ^{[ 11 ]}

Tras el desplome del mercado bursátil de 1929, Muray se alejó de los retratos de celebridades y del teatro, y se convirtió en un fotógrafo comercial pionero, famoso por crear muchas de las convenciones de la publicidad en color. ^{[ 5 ] [ 12 ]} Fue considerado el maestro del proceso de carbro de tres colores . ^{[ 12 ]} Sus últimos retratos públicos importantes fueron los de Dwight David Eisenhower en la década de 1950.

During World War II, he taught photography at New York University.^[6][13]

Muray's magazine and fashion pictures from the 1930s and 1940s are regarded as fine examples of color photography and what the International Center for Photography called "the postwar American advertising aesthetic of excess." Muray fused technical mastery with a lively wit to produce portraits of refined elegance and subtle insight, alongside vibrant, boldly commercial images that captured the spirit of his time.^[14]

Muray competed for the United States at the 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics (when he came in fourth in sabre team) in the sabre fencing events.^[5][15] He won the US Team Saber National Championship in 1927 and 1928, and the National Saber Championship in 1929.^[5] In 1935 and 1936 he won the National Foil Team Championship.^[5] He won the Metropolitan Saber Fencing Championship in 1934, 1942, 1950, and 1951.^[5] In addition to the NYAC, he fenced for the Washington Square Fencing Club, the Fencers Club, and Salle Santelli, representing each one during his career.^[5]

Muray represented the New York Athletic Club and was a lifelong fencer for the club. He suffered a heart attack on 9 February 1961, four years prior to his death while fencing at the club, and was saved through the efforts of a fellow fencer and physician Dr. Barry Pariser who performed heart massage.^[5] On the second occasion in the very same fencing room Muray was struck again in a final and fatal attack on 2 November 1965.^[5][6] There is a plaque in his honor on display at the fencing room dedicated to his memory. In his lifetime he had won over 60 fencing medals.^[5]

• List of select Jewish fencers
• List of USFA Division I National Champions
• List of USFA Hall of Fame members

• Colección de Nickolas Muray en el Museo Nacional de Historia Americana del Smithsonian (Colección de Historia Fotográfica)
• Imágenes de Frida Kahlo en el sitio web de Nickolas Muray
• Galería Nickolas Muray de George Eastman House
• Un sello con el retrato de Ivan Mestrovic realizado por Nickolas Muray.
• Muray trabaja en el MOMA.