‘Buy a pencil 2 cent’
As a young man the Hungarian John Albok photographed in field hospitals and prisons during the First World War. He lost much of his family during this period, and emigrated to America in 1921. In New York Albok worked as a tailor, but photography was his passion. In his free time he wandered around the streets and recorded what came across his path. A pencil seller’s deformed hand sufficed to create a poignant image.