Exhibition dates: 19th November, 2024 – 2nd March, 2025
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Tangier
1940, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
What an enchanted life!
Nicolás Muller was a Hungarian photographer but the rise of Nazism forced him to flee his homeland in 1938 because he was Jewish.. to Paris to continue his work, then temporary shelter in Portugal before finally finding sanctuary in Tangier under the Spanish protectorate where he “published two notable books: Estampas marroquíes (Moroccan Prints) and Tánger por el Jalifa (Tangier by the Khalifa). These works revealed a mature artist, deeply sensitive to his surroundings and possessing a mastery of his craft.” (Press release)
“… in the 1930s Muller worked in a humanist, documentary vein, evincing a strong sense of sympathy for the world of labour and the most modest members of society. His interest in the working man’s experience would remain a hallmark of his photographs. As the social and political contexts changed, he photographed agricultural labourers and dockers in the ports of Marseille and Porto, then children and street vendors in Tangiers, and life in the countryside.”1
Off to Madrid for the first time to mix with underground intelligentsia where he met a beautiful woman who was to become his wife (moving to Madrid permanently in 1947, for love!), living in Spain under a fascist dictator (oh the irony, of one who had fled fascism!)
Then to become one of Spain’s greatest photographic visual storytellers, capturing the essence of the Spanish countryside and its people, the peasants and the sacred myths of the cultures of Spain, the mountain towns and the cities, the artists and the intellectuals. The passion and the people.
In Morocco it’s the blinding light and the open space of his photographs; in Spain it’s the intensity of his vision revealing something sensual and intimate in his photographs. Rich, textured, engaged / engaging.
“I learned that photography can be a weapon, an authentic document of reality. […] I became an engaged person, an engaged photographer.”
At heart always a humanist photographer he seems to me to be a romantic and I love that. I want to see more of his photographs, particularly his early photographs in Hungary and Paris which I have never seen.
Nicolás Muller is my secret pleasure. He deserves to be more widely recognised in the history of photography.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
1/ Press release on the exhibition Nicolás Muller (1913-2000). Traces of exile from the Château de Tours website quoted in Art Blart: art and cultural memory archive, May 10, 2015 [Online] Cited 28/02/2025
Many thankx to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Fore more photographs of the artist’s work please see the previous posting on the exhibition ‘Nicolás Muller (1913-2000). Traces of exile’ at the Château de Tours, November 2014 – May 2015
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Desnudo. Tangier
1940, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
724 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Within the hallowed halls of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, a collection of photographs whispers stories of exile, resilience, and the vibrant cultural tapestry of a bygone era. These are the works of Nicolás Muller, a Hungarian-born photographer who, through his lens, became one of Spain’s most influential visual storytellers. This current exhibition at the prestigious academy offers a profound look at his impact, reminding us of the power of photography to transcend borders and capture the essence of humanity.
Muller’s life reads like a historical novel. Born in Hungary in 1913, he belonged to a remarkable generation of Hungarian photographers – a group that included giants like Robert Capa, Brassaï, Moholy-Nagy, and André Kertész. But the rise of Nazism forced him to flee his homeland in 1938, beginning a journey of exile that would shape his life and work.
Paris became his first refuge, where he contributed to prestigious publications like France Magazine, Paris-Match, and Regard. However, the shadow of war followed him. As a Jew, Muller was again forced to move, seeking temporary shelter in Portugal. Even there, he was not safe, facing expulsion by the Salazar regime’s secret police.
His wandering eventually led him to Tangier, a cosmopolitan city in Morocco, where he found a semblance of stability. From 1940 to 1947, Muller established a successful portrait studio, capturing the diverse faces of the city. During this time, under the Spanish Protectorate, he also collaborated with the newspaper España and published two notable books: Estampas marroquíes (Moroccan Prints) and Tánger por el Jalifa (Tangier by the Khalifa). These works revealed a mature artist, deeply sensitive to his surroundings and possessing a mastery of his craft.
In 1944, a pivotal encounter with Fernando Vela, a prominent intellectual and co-founder of the Revista de Occidente, brought Muller to Madrid for the first time. Three years later, he made Madrid his permanent home, opening a studio on Serrano Street, near the iconic Puerta de Alcalá.
Post-war Madrid was a city recovering from the ravages of conflict and under the weight of Franco’s dictatorship. Yet, Muller’s studio became a beacon of light and a haven for intellectuals, artists, and writers who yearned for intellectual freedom. His studio wasn’t just a place for portraits; it was a salon, a vibrant hub where minds met and ideas were exchanged.
Imagine the scene: the warm glow of studio lights, the quiet hum of conversation, the friendly presence of Muller’s dogs. Within those walls, giants of Spanish thought and culture gathered: Baroja and Azorín, elder statesmen of literature; philosophers like Pedro Laín Entralgo and Xavier Zubiri; poets like Gabriel Celaya and Gerardo Diego; writers like Ignacio Aldecoa and María Zambrano. Once a week, Muller himself would venture out to the nearby Café Gijón, joining the lively discussions of poets and painters.
This gathering at Muller’s studio echoed the legendary salons of 19th-century Paris, particularly that of Nadar. Like Nadar, Muller created a visual record of his time, capturing the faces of a generation that shaped Spain’s intellectual and artistic landscape. His portraits are more than just images; they are intimate glimpses into the souls of these remarkable individuals.
But Muller’s work extended far beyond the confines of his studio. He ventured across Spain, documenting its landscapes, towns, monuments, and people. His photographs offer a poignant portrayal of a country grappling with its past and striving for a new identity. His books, such as España Clara (Clear Spain) and numerous regional guides, are now treasured historical documents, offering a window into a Spain that has changed but not disappeared.
In 1980, after a rich and eventful career, Muller passed the torch to his daughter, Ana, also a talented photographer, and retired to the coastal town of Andrín, Asturias. It wasn’t until the 1990s, with a major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid and a comprehensive catalog, that Muller’s work received the widespread recognition it deserved. He was finally acknowledged as one of Spain’s most important photographers, a status he shares with his admired colleague, Catalá-Roca.
Now, this important body of work is being celebrated at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, offering a new generation the chance to connect with Muller’s vision. His photographs remind us of the power of art to transcend borders, to connect us to the past, and to illuminate the human experience. They are a testament to the enduring impact of a wandering lens that found its home in Spain and captured the soul of a nation.
Press release from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Bailarina Tajara. Larache (Tajara dancer. Larache)
1942, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Fiesta del Mulud II
1942, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
724 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Pio Baroja paseando por el Retiro (Pio Baroja strolling through the Retiro)
1950, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
The Museum’s photography room displays a selection of works by photographer Nicolás Muller that are part of the Academy’s collection. In addition, bibliographic and photographic material from the Pedro Melero / Marisa Llorente collection and a portrait of the photographer from the Ana Muller collection are on display.
In the cultural wasteland of autocratic Spain, the photographer Nicolás Muller (Hungary, 1913 – Asturias, 2000) was, together with Catalá-Roca, the greatest and most influential Spanish photographer. A prominent member of the privileged group of Hungarian photographers of his generation – Robert Capa, Brassaï, Moholy-Nagi, André Kertész… – like them, he had to leave his country fleeing Nazism in 1938, to settle in Paris, where he actively collaborated in the famous weeklies France Magazine, Paris-Match and Regard. Of Jewish origin, the German occupation condemned him to a new and precarious exile in Portugal, a country from which he was arrested and expelled by the PIDE, the political police of the Salazar dictatorship. Finally, his long journey as a wandering Jew led him to Tangier, an open city where he lived and worked until 1947.
In Tangier he set up a portrait studio, which soon became the most prestigious and visited in the city. During the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco, Muller collaborated with the newspaper España and published two of his best books, Estampas marroquíes and Tánger por el Jalifa, which were added to those published in Hungary and which showed a photographer in full maturity, cultured, delicate, committed and deeply knowledgeable of all the secrets of his trade. In 1944, with the help of his great friend Fernando Vela, co-founder of the Revista de Occidente and director of España, he came to Madrid for the first time, where he exhibited his photographs at the Palace Hotel. Three years later he left Tangier for good, to move to Madrid. After working in two portrait studios, in 1947 he took up residence in a bright gallery on Calle Serrano, a stone’s throw from the Puerta de Alcalá.
In a shabby and intimidated Madrid, his studio soon became the most prestigious in the city and a back room and meeting point for a group of intellectuals and artists close to the liberal ideas led by Ortega y Gasset and Fernando Vela, from the Revista de Occidente. In that culturally depressed time, marked by the obsolescence of an aesthetically exhausted photographic officialdom, Muller represented one of the few windows open to modernity. In the shadow of the spotlights in his studio, in the presence of his friendly dogs, the most notable artists and intellectuals of the day met for years: Baroja and Azorín, as foster parents, Pedro Laín Entralgo, Lorenzo Goñi, Fernando Vela, Gabriel Celaya, Dionisio Ridruejo, Rodrigo Uría, Xavier Zubiri, Gerardo Diego, Pío and Julio Caro Baroja, Ignacio Aldecoa, María Zambrano… And once a week, the photographer would go to the nearby Café Gijón to join the well-known gathering known as the poets and painters, made up of Martínez Novillo, Benjamín Palencia, Pablo Serrano, Zabaleta, Pancho Cossío, Paco García Pavón, Gabriel Celaya and Cristino Mallo.
The gatherings in Muller’s studio, given the distance in time, are comparable only to the councils held a century earlier in the Parisian studio of the first Nadar, on the Boulevard des Capucines. Like the great French portraitist, Muller was building an admirable Parnassus, made up of more than a hundred portraits of painters, sculptors, poets, novelists and philosophers from that Madrid aggrieved by pain, hunger, fear and ration cards, which contrasted with the frivolous and offensive euphoria of the disrespectful mandarins and the rich speculators, to use the words of Dionisio Ridruejo. For these portraits alone, Muller would deserve a place of honour in the history of Spanish and universal photography.
But, unlike his Madrid colleagues at the time – Gyenes, Amer Ventosa, Ibáñez – whom he surpassed in talent, in addition to his work in the studio, from the very day of his arrival in the capital, Muller deployed an intense professional activity that led him to travel around Spain and portray its towns, its monuments, its landscapes and its people. The fruit of that titanic work are his numerous and excellent books, unfortunately not available today, such as España Clara (1966) and a dozen guides to the various provinces and regions of Spain, such as those produced in the Basque Country (1967), Andalusia (1968), Cantabria (1969) and La Mancha (1970). This series was followed by those dedicated to the Landscapes of Spain, Spanish Popular Architecture, Spanish Romanesque and the Jewish footprint in Spain, with texts by Azorín, Sáinz de Robles, Luis Rosales, Julio Caro Baroja, Gerardo Diego, Dionisio Ridruejo, Torrente Ballester, Fernando Vela and Laín Entralgo. In 1980, after a turbulent and well-lived professional life, in which he came to penetrate the roots of grief, successive exiles, love, friendship and melancholy, he left his Madrid studio in the hands of his daughter Ana Muller, an excellent professional, and retired to his small chosen homeland, in Andrín, Asturias, on the seashore.
Following his retrospective exhibition, Nicolás Muller. Fotógrafo, held in 1994 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid and the extraordinary catalogue published by Lunwerg Editores, Muller began to be recognised as the most important Spanish photographer of his time; a status he shares with his admired Catalá-Roca, with whom he shared many common points: curiosity, talent, a love of the arts, a joy for his work and a deep knowledge of the secrets of life and his craft. Since 1994, his exhibitions have multiplied in Spain and in various countries in Europe and America. Among them, Nicolás Muller. Obras maestras (2013) and Nicolás Muller, una mirada compromiso (2020) stand out, which is still touring various countries in Europe.
With the fall of communism in Hungary, Muller began to be known and admired in his country as well, after the retrospective exhibition of his photographs, held with great solemnity in his hometown and inaugurated by Arpad Gönez, the first Hungarian president of the democratic era. This exhibition was followed by others, among which Nicolas Muller. A retrospective look stands out, held in Budapest, organised by the Embassy of Spain and the House of Hungarian Photographers, six years after the death of the master. An emotional and well-deserved tribute to this great professional, Hungarian by birth, Spanish by adoption and, above all, a wandering Jew and citizen of the world.
Publio López Mondéjar
Academic. Section of Image Arts
Text from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando website
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Pintando el barco. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Painting the boat. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
1964, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Monjitas en Lanzarote (Nuns in Lanzarote)
1964, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
724 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Pablo Serrano
1965
Vintage silver gelatin print
Pablo Serrano Aguilar (8 March 1908, Crivillén, Teruel – 26 November 1985, Madrid) was a Spanish abstract sculptor.
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
Soledad. Cudillero (Solitude. Cudillero)
1965, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Nicolás Muller (Spanish born Hungary, 1913-2000)
País Vasco (the Basque Country)
1966, printed 2005 by J. M. Castro Prieto
Printed with pigmented inks on cotton paper
623 x 610 mm
Acquired in 2006 with a charge to the Guitarte legacy
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
C. de Alcalá, 13, Centro, 28014 Madrid, Spain