Martin Munkacsi

credited, titled, and dated in an unidentified hand and signed by Joan Munkacsi, the photographer's daughter, in pencil on the reverse, matted, framed, 1932

Estate of the photographer

Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, as agent

Simon Lowinsky, New York

Acquired by Jill Quasha from the above, New York, 1986

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1989

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 57 (this print)

Another print of this image:

F. C. Gundlach, ed., Martin Munkacsi (New York: International Center of Photography, 2006, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 144

This photograph is on light double-weight paper with a semi-glossy surface. When examined closely, a 1 ½ inch diagonal crease can be seen in the hat and head of the uppermost man - this does not break the emulsion. There is some wear on the print's edges and corners, and sporadic inconsequential chipping. Glue remains on reverse of the print suggest that this picture was attached at some point to a mount.
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The print offered here dates to Munkacsi's 1932 trip to South America, where he photographed Brazil's 'coffee tragedy,' while on assignment for the German photo weekly, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (BIZ).  For this particular trip, Munkacsi was the official travel reporter for a much-publicized Graf Zeppelin voyage to South America.  Rather than photograph the sites of Brazil, however, Munkacsi chose instead to photograph the state-sanctioned destruction of an overabundant coffee harvest.  Amid fears of falling coffee prices, tons of coffee were removed from warehouses, put on ships, and dumped into the sea.  This image, taken from above, depicts two workers on board one of these ships, virtually swimming in coffee beans.  Informed by the dynamism of Munkacsi's earlier work, particularly his sports photography, this photograph also shows the influence of Neue Sachlichkeit and avant-garde photography, in its unique perspective, and unusual cropping and framing.

Coffee Workers, Brazil, was originally published in BIZ, 30 June 1932, under the series headline, 'Coffee Tragedy. One Million Pounds of Coffee Thrown into the Sea!'  At the time of this writing, only one other print of this image has been located, that loaned by the archive of Ullstein Bild in Berlin to the 2006 exhibition, Martin Munkacsi, co-organized by the International Center for Photography, New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  Howard Greenberg, the agent for the estate of Martin Munkacsi, has handled only one print of this image, the print offered here.