Listening to family legends and stories, a portrait of each ancestor continually emerges in my mind. However, in many cases, only 1-2 images of these individuals have survived.
In this project I wanted to make an attempt to create an environmental portrait of my great-grandfather (Kálmán Simon), using the context of an event that seems important and defining. These stories survived in my head from the long afternoon walks with my grandfather Dezső Simon. Fortunately, my grandfather Dezső was a writer besides being an accountant. Below you can find an excerpt from Dezső Simon's book titled "Kislengyel in the 20th Century" where he describes the story of his father when, as a young man, he first truly went against his parents' wishes.
"Kálmán Simon (1890-1976) was the only son of János Simon.
An incident characteristic of my grandfather’s (S. János) management style was recounted to me by my father (S. Kálmán). It happened in the years leading up to the First World War, around 1908-1910. By then, my father was already the coachman. One autumn, my grandparents were at church in Kustánszeg and on their way home, they stopped at the inn in the village, where, during lunch, they made an agreement with 'Muki', the innkeeper, and sold him a pair of year-and-a-half-old colts for 140 forints. When they returned home and reported the sale of the colts, my father (S. Kálmán) did not agree with this. About a month later, tied to the cart, he took the colts to Alsólendva for the famous autumn market, where, already on the evening before the market -after negotiating with several buyers in the boarding house- he sold the colts for 280 forints, allowing him to return home early the next morning!"
The photographs that I used for creating a "model" of my great grandfather Kálmán Simon:
Erzsébet Szabó and Kálmán Simon
Erzsébet Szabó and Kálmán Simon
Kálmán Simon's first son, Kálmán
Kálmán Simon's second son, Dezső (my grandfather)
