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Kati Horna was born in Hungary in 1912 during an unstable sociopolitical period; as a result of the First World War, Budapest - where Horna grew up - suffered severe economic setbacks which continued in the years between the wars.[5] Her father was a banker from the prosperous part of Buda[6] and when he died, photography offered Horna the means to earn a living and the chance to fulfill her political ideals.[7] The surrounding violence, danger and injustice of that time influenced her ideology profoundly.

Horna lived in Berlin as a teenager where she met Bertolt Brecht and was influenced by Bauhaus, Surrealism, and Constructivist Lajos Kassak whose views on photography as an agent of social change aligned with Horna's ideology.[8]

At the age of twenty, Horna became an apprentice in the workshop of a renowned photographer József Pecsi. At this most prestigious school in Budapest, she learned basic photographic techniques.[6] She met Robert Capa (then by the name Endre Friedmann) as a teenager in Budapest, and the two photographers remained friends until Capa's death in 1954.[6] Through the romantic relationship that Horna and Capa shared, Horna was able to gain great insight into the photographic war world. Some of the wars that Capa himself was able to capture included the Spanish Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Capa favored working at the front lines of the War; capturing shots such as Falling Soldier [1936]. [11] [9]Horna and Capa were part of the same left-wing political movement and photographed each other's portraits.[10] When Capa moved to Paris, she followed him in 1933, where she turned her attention to the life she saw around her in the streets and cafés of the French capital. Her series Reportage dans les Cafés de Paris (1934) captured her brilliant eye for irony and fun.[11][7] while she did several reportages for the French Agence Photo. Her widely known series Flea Markets (1933) and Reportage dans les Cafes de Paris (1934) are from this period. Besides photographing realistic scenes, she also ventured into more experimental works, closer to Surrealism. Even though Horna gained much popularity with her work, she preferred to stay out of the limelight and work for smaller organizations such as Umbral. [9] Before leaving Europe for Mexico, Horna met the man she would later marry: Jose Horna, who was a craftsman and a sculptor. [11]