Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1926 Budapest, Hungary

Died: 2005 Budapest, Hungary

Year of Migration to the UK: 1957

Other name/s: Lukács Ferenc, Frank Lukacs , Feri Lukas

Biography

Photographer Feri Lukas (né Ferenc Lukacs) was born in Jászapáti, Hungary in 1926. He grew up in a middle-class family with an older brother, Emil. In 1944, under Hungary’s anti-Jewish laws, he was conscripted to forced-labour service; in early 1945 German forces and Hungarian Nazis organised the forced transfer of labour units toward Austria to build defences, but his train was intercepted by Soviet forces and he was held for identification for several months before release; several relatives were deported and some never returned (family testimony). He subsequently enrolled to study pharmacy at university but was expelled in the late 1940s, when the communist regime removed students from 'bourgeois' backgrounds. During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution he left the country — recalling that he caught the last westbound train out of Budapest — and spent time in a refugee camp, before receiving asylum in Britain in 1957 (Jászsági Évkönyv, 2002). Settling in London, he anglicised his name to Feri Lukas. By the time of his naturalisation on 9 December 1963, he was living at 24 Coleherne Road, London, SW10.

Lukas first came close to photography in Budapest while employed as a decorator at the Kőbányai Gyógyszergyár (Kőbánya Pharmaceutical Works), photographing model workers and construction sites and teaching himself technique in the technical library. In London he began working with fellow Hungarian émigré photographer, Dezo (Dezső) Hoffmann and, as his career developed, also contributed images for distribution through the Rex Features photo agency. By the early 1960s, he was active as a press and street photographer: between 1962 and 1963 he ran a regular photo feature, Looking Around, in the Kensington Post (West London Star Group), capturing everyday scenes in Hyde Park, Portobello Road Market and the streets of West London. He later recalled photographing well-known figures of the period — among them the Beatles, Alfred Hitchcock, Roy Orbison, Muhammad Ali and Diana Ross — and emphasised a people-centred approach that underpinned both his assignments and his private work (Új Néplap 2002, p. 7). He travelled widely, on agency assignments following bands and performance groups across Europe and beyond, and on personal journeys to India, China, Hong Kong and Japan, yet his focus remained consistently on people.

In subsequent decades, Lukas combined commissions with more personal projects. Surviving vintage prints — many dispersed through flea markets and later sold by Hungarian auction houses — reveal a broad practice that encompassed London street life and leisure, public demonstrations and urban scenes, as well as compositions of cafés, architecture and cityscapes. In 1993 he returned permanently to Hungary. Feri Lukas died in Budapest, Hungary in 2005. His archive was not preserved intact, and most of his known works now circulate through sales from his estate. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.

Related books

‘Balancing Act’, The Times, 5 August 1967, p. 9
‘Limelight’, Kensington Post, 22 March 1963, p. 2
‘Railings’, Kensington Post, 11 January 1963, p. 4
‘Looking Around…with Feri Lukacs’, Kensington Post, 29 June 1962, p. 4
‘Looking Around…with Feri Lukacs’, Kensington Post, 1 June 1962, p. 4
‘Looking Around…with Feri Lukacs’, Kensington Post, Kensington Post, 6 April 1962, p. 4
‘Looking Around…with Feri Lukacs’, Kensington Post, 23 February 1962, p. 4
‘Looking Around…with Feri Lukacs’, Kensington Post, 16 February 1962, p. 3

Selected exhibitions

Tisztelet a szülőföldnek (Hommage to the homeland), Hall of Art, Budapest (1982)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Feri Lukacs]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Feri Lukacs artist