Background
John Albok was born in Munkacs, Hungary, in what is now the Ukraine.
John Albok was born in Munkacs, Hungary, in what is now the Ukraine.
After apprenticing to a tailor from the ages of 13 to 17, he was drafted into the Hungarian army. He began photographing life in the hospital and prison where he worked. In 1921, Albok immigrated to the United States.
John Albok worked as a tailor in a shop at 96th Street and Madison Avenue.
He photographed street life primarily in his immediate neighborhood for sixty years, until his death in 1982.