Dr. Dezső Bozóky's Photographs

Dr. Dezső Bozóky (1871-1957), naval doctor in the service of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, spent considerable time on the waters of the Ottoman Empire and East Asian countries in the first decade of the twentieth century. He visited several countries and enthusiasticaly captured the everyday life, shops, elegant building and parks, harbour life, ships, and dock workers of many cities. He published part of his pictures along with his travelogue in Hungary. After his death his photographs, albums and plates, purchased photos and objects bought in Asia entered the collections of the Hopp Museum.

It is an important scientific task of the Hopp Museum to study the Asian historical photographs in its collection. Processing and exhibiting the photographs started in 2016 and since then, they were presented to the public at four Hungarian and seven international exhibitions ranging from Turkey (Türkiye) to China and Korea. The results of the research are published in joint English-Hungarian volumes: so far his Turkish photographs are published in Visit to the Ottoman Empire and his Korean photographs in Visit to the Land of Morning Calm. At present the Chinese photographs are under examination and prepared for publication, while the objects Dr Dezső Bozóky purchased in Asia (mainly textiles and furniture) are also put together in order to be presented at an exhibition.