Ervin Marton

Ervin Marton (known as Marton Ervin in Hungarian; 17 June 1912 – 30 April 1968) was a Franco-Hungarian artist and photographer who became an integral part of the Paris art culture beginning in 1937. An internationally recognized photographer, he is known for his portraits of many key figures in art, literature and the sciences working in Paris, as well as for his candid "street photography". His work was regularly exhibited in Paris during his lifetime, as well as in Budapest, London and Milan. It is held by the Hungarian National Gallery, the ''Bibliothèque Nationale'' in Paris, and the Hungarian Museum of Photography, as well as by major corporations and private collectors in Europe and the United States.

Together with numerous other Hungarians and immigrants, Marton joined the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II. Artists and intellectuals participated in projects of aiding refugees, printing clandestine communications to keep up morale, and forging passes to aid people trying to escape the Nazis. Afterward, Marton was awarded the ''Médaille de la Libération'' (French Liberation Medal) by the French government.

Renewed interest in the Hungarian artists of 20th-century Paris has generated major 21st-century exhibits of Ervin Marton and his contemporaries. These include exhibits in Vienna, Austria (2004); and Kecskemét (2004) and Budapest, Hungary (2007 and 2010). Marton's street photography of Paris was exhibited in California (2009) together with that of the 20th-century photographers Inge Morath and Max Yavno. In 2010–2011 Marton's photos of female nudes were exhibited with those of other Hungarian artists at the ''Institut hongrois'' in Paris. Provided by Wikipedia