Horna, Kati (1912–2000)

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Horna, Kati (1912–2000)

Hungarian-born photographer. Born May 19, 1912, in Budapest, Hungary, of Spanish descent; died in Oct 19, 2000, in Mexico City, Mexico; m. José Horna (painter and sculptor), 1938.

Spanish Civil War photographer, studied photography in Hungary; began career in Paris (1933); arrived in Spain shortly after Civil War began (1936) and worked for Propaganda Committee of the anarchist trade union, Confederación Nacional de Trabajo; worked as a photographer and graphics editor for leftist journals (1937–8)—including anarchist publications Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty), Tiempos Nuevos (New Times) and Mujeres Libres (Free Women)—portraying the war's effects on civilians within territory held by the Republic; with outbreak of WWII, went to Veracruz, Mexico (1939), where she and husband provided a hub for exiled and Mexican surrealists. The Spanish Ministry of Culture purchased her negatives for the National Historical Archives collection on the Civil War (1979).