André Kertész

Infobox Person
name = André Kertész


image_size =
caption = André Kertész in New York, 1982
birth_name = Andor Kertész
birth_date = July 2, 1894
birth_place = Budapest, Hungary
death_date = September 28, 1985 (aged 91)
death_place = New York City, New York, USA
nationality = Hungarian
occupation = Photographer
religion = Jewish
spouse = Elizabeth Saly

André Kertész (July 2, 1894 – September 28, 1985), born Kertész Andor, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and by his efforts in establishing and developing the photo essay. In the early years of his lengthy career, his then-unorthodox camera angles, and his unwillingness to compromise his personal photographic style, prevented his work from gaining wider recognition. Even towards the end of his life, Kertész did not feel he had gained the worldwide recognition he deserved. He is recognized today as one of the seminal figures of photojournalism, if not photography as a whole.cite book |last=Naef |first=Weston J. |coauthors=Sandra S Phillips & David Travis |title=André Kertész: Of Paris and New York |year=1985 |location=Chicago |publisher=The Art Institute of Chicago| isbn=0-500-54106-X| pages=7–124] cite book |last=Capa |first=C. |coauthors=Hal Hinson, Susan Harder & Hiroji Kubota |title=André Kertész: |year=1987 |publisher=Aperture Books |location=New York |isbn=0-89381-256-0 |pages=198–206]

Expected by his family to work as a stock broker, Kertész was a photographic autodidact and his early work was mostly published in magazines. This continued until much later in his life when he stopped accepting commissions. He served briefly in World War I and moved to Paris in 1925, against the wishes of his family. There he was involved in the artistic melting pot of immigrants and the Dada movement, and achieved critical and commercial success. The imminent threat of World War II pushed him to emigrate again to the United States, where he had a more difficult life and needed to rebuild his reputation through commissioned work. He took offense with several editors, who he felt did not recognize his work. In the 1940s and 1950s he stopped working for magazines and began to achieve greater international success. Despite the numerous awards he collected over the years, he still felt unrecognized, a sentiment which did not change even at the time of his death. His career is generally divided into four periods based on where his work was most prominent at these times. They are called the Hungarian period, the French period, the American period and, towards the end of his life, the International period.

Early life

Andor Kertész was born on July 2, 1894 in Budapest to the middle-class Jewish family of Lipót Kertész, a bookseller, and his wife, Ernesztin Hoffmann.cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=I.| coauthors=|title=The Photography Book|year=1997 |publisher=Phaidon Press Ltd|location=|isbn=0-714-83634-6| pages=240] Andor, known as "Bandi" to his friends, was the middle child of three sons. When Lipót died in 1908 from tuberculosis, Ernesztin was left widowed and without a source of income to care for her three children, Andor, Imre and Jenő. Fortunately, Ernesztin's brother, Lipót Hoffmann, provided for Kertész and his brothers and acted much like a father to them. The family soon moved to Lipót's country property in Szigetbecse, where Kertész was exposed to a leisurely pace of life and pastoral setting that would shape his later career path.cite book |last=Borhan |first=Pierre |title=André Kertész: His Life and Work |year=2000 |publisher=Bulfinch Press |location=Boston |isbn=0-8212-2648-7| pages=8–32] cite book |last=Corkin |first=Jane| coauthors=B. Lifson |title=André Kertész: A Lifetime of Photography |year=1982 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=0-500-54085-3| pages=9–11]

Lipót paid for Kertész's business classes at the Academy of Commerce until his 1912 graduation, and then procured Kertész's hiring at the stock exchange soon after. Unlike his brother Imre, who worked at the exchange in Budapest until his death in 1957, Kertész had little interest in the career. He was instead drawn to illustrated magazines and to activities like fishing and swimming in the Danube near his uncle's property. Kertész's first encounters with magazine photography were what first persuaded him to dream of becoming a photographer. He was also influenced by certain paintings by Lajos Tihanyi and Gyula Zilzer, as well as by poetry.cite book |last=Könemann|first=| coauthors=|title=Aperture Masters of Photography: André Kertész|year=1997 |publisher=Aperture Foundation Inc |location=New York |isbn=3-895-08611-8| pages=5–22, 86–94]

Hungarian period

Kertész bought his first camera (an ICA box camera) in 1912, as soon as he had earned enough money, despite his family's protests to continue his career in business. In his free time away from work, he began taking photographs of the local peasants, gypsies, and landscape of the surrounding Hungarian Plains (the "puszta"). His first photograph is believed to be "Sleeping Boy, Budapest, 1912", although his photographs were not published until 1917, during World War I, while he was a member of the Austro-Hungarian army; they were first published in the magazine "Erdekes Újság". Kertész taught himself how to use a camera, and even as early as 1914 (for example, "Eugene, 1914") his distinctive and mature style was already evident.

In 1914, at the age of 20, he was sent to the frontline, where he took photographs of life in the trenches with a light-weight camera (a Goerz Tenax), perfect for carrying around during combat. Unfortunately, most of these photographs were destroyed during the Hungarian Revolution of 1919. He was wounded in 1915 by a bullet, and his right arm was temporarily paralyzed. Kertész was sent to a military hospital in Budapest, but was later transferred to Esztergom, where he continued to take photographs, including a self-portrait of himself for a competition in the magazine "Borsszem Janko". Of this period of work, his arguably most famous piece was "Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom, 1917", the only surviving photograph of a series depicting a swimmer whose image is distorted by the water. This photograph sparked Kertész's interest in distortions that led to his series of "Distortions" photographs during the early 1930s.

Kertész remained off the frontline until peace returned to Europe in 1918, after which he reluctantly returned to the stock exchange. However, he did meet his future wife Erzsebet Salomon (who changed her name to Elizabeth Saly) at the exchange, where they both worked, and began to pursue her romantically. During this period of work and throughout his whole career, Elizabeth would be a model for his photographs. Continuing to devote his spare time to photography, he took numerous photographs with his brother Jenő as the subject. Still unsatisfied with his life at the stock exchange, Kertész left his career to try his hand at agricultural work and beekeeping during the early 1920s. This venture was short-lived due to the advent of political turmoil and communism in the countryside. Again returning to the stock exchange, he finally decided to leave Hungary altogether, primarily to escape his current life, but also to join one of France's photographic schools. Despite the allure of Paris, Kertész was eventually persuaded not to go by his mother for the time being. This dream of leaving Hungary would not be realised for many years to come, so in the meantime, he silently continued to work at the exchange and take photographs only in his spare time. In 1923, he was offered a silver medal by the Hungarian Amateur Photographer's Association for one of his photographs, but with the condition that he had to print the photograph in bromoil. Kertész refused and turned down the medal for a diploma from the association instead. He was rewarded, however, when one of his photographs was used on the cover of the Hungarian news magazine "Erdekes Újság" on its June 26, 1925 issue. The magazine had already printed one of his photographs in its March 25, 1917 issue, but this was the first time Kertész's pictures had ever been placed on a front cover. By that time, he had already made his decision and was determined to photograph the sites in Paris and use the city's artistic elements.

French period

Kertész emigrated to Paris in September 1925 against his mother's wishes, leaving her behind along with both his brothers, his wife and his uncle Lipót, who died shortly thereafter. Jenő also left Hungary to live in Argentina, but Elizabeth remained until her future husband was well established in Paris and they could live together. Kertész became one of the many Hungarian born artists who had left the Austro-Hungarian Empire for another country, such as François Kollar, Robert Capa, Emeric Fehér and Brassaï, and was certainly not the only artist emigrating to Paris; Man Ray, Germaine Krull (who also took part in exhibitions with Kertész) and Lucien Aigner all emigrated there during this period. In Paris he found critical and commercial success with magazine publications after doing commissioned work for several magazines across Europe from Germany to France to Italy to Great Britain. Kertész was the first photographer to have a one-man exhibition when Jan Slivinsky organised to have 30 of his photographs presented in 1927 at the gallery "Sacre du Printemps Gallery". Over the next years, Kertész would appear in many solo exhibitions and shows with other artists. In one show at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1932, the price of Kertész's proofs was set at US$20, a large sum of money during the Great Depression of America.

Kertész changed his first name to André soon after arriving in Paris, and would keep that name for the rest of his life. At that time, Dadaism was beginning to attract numerous photographers and was becoming a large movement amongst artists, especially in France. Kertész quickly became acquainted with the movement's members and one of them, Paul Dermée, dubbed him "Brother Seer" and "Brother Seeing Eye" during Kertész's first solo exhibition in 1927; this was an allusion to a medieval monastery where all the monks were blind bar one. Kertész continued for the entirety of his time in Paris to contact and visit various other Hungarian photographers and artists, and would eventually star in exhibitions with some of them later in his life. Indeed, he enjoyed visiting many of his sculptor friends, and was impressed by the Cubism movement. In his spare time, he created portraits of, among others, painters Piet Mondriancite book |last=Pasi |first=Alessandro |title=Leica: Witness To A Century |year=2003 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=0-393-05921-9| pages=54–55] and Marc Chagall, writer Colette, and film-maker Sergei Eisenstein. In 1928, Kertész switched from the usage of cameras with plates and moved on to a Leica, which he became accustomed to quickly. This period of work was arguably one of his most productive, when he took photographs every day and had some of them published in magazines throughout the late 1920s, carefully dividing his time between commissioned work and his own personal photography. In 1930, Kertész was awarded a silver medal for services to photography at the "Exposition Coloniale" in Paris where he attended.

Kertész was published in French magazines such as "Vu" and "Art et Médecine", in which he made numerous covers. His greatest journalistic collaboration was with the French editor and publisher of "Vu", Lucien Vogel, who ran his photographs without explanatory prose and let him report on various subjects. Kertész enjoyed travelling in and around Paris taking photographs on the varied subject Vogel set for him to capture. Kertész was commissioned to create one of his most famous series of works, the "Distortion" photographs, in 1933: a series of about 200 photographs of two nude, female models in various poses with their reflections in a combination of distortion mirrors, similar to those found in a carnival's house of mirrors. In some cases the models, Najinskaya Verackhatz and Nadia Kasine, were so distorted that only certain limbs or features were visible in the mirror's reflection. Some of the images appeared in the March 2 issue of the so-called "girly magazine" "Le Sourire" and later in the September 15, 1933 issue of "Arts et métiers graphiques". Kertész published the book "Distortions" later that year containing the photographs.

After his first book of photographs "Enfants" in 1933, which was dedicated to Elizabeth and his mother, who had died earlier that year, what followed was a series of other book publications. His next book, "Paris", was published in 1934 and dedicated to his brothers Imre and Jenő. "Nos Amies les bêtes" ("Our Friends the Animals") was released in 1936 and "Les Cathédrales du vin" ("The Cathedrals of Wine") in 1937.

Unknown to his family and indeed most people, Kertész had married a French portrait photographer by the name of Rosza Klein (although she used the name Rogi André) in the late 1920s. The marriage was short-lived and he never spoke about it until his dying day, so as not to upset Elizabeth. In 1930, he ventured back to Hungary to visit his family. After returning to Paris, Elizabeth followed him in 1931, despite firm opposition from her family, to be with the love of her life. Elizabeth and André were never separated again. Despite his mother dying that same year, Kertész married Elizabeth on June 17, 1933. Following this, he is said to have spent increasingly less time with his artist and photographer friends to favor his new wife.

At the time of Kertész's marriage, the Nazi Party was growing in power in Germany. This prompted the magazine industries to publish stories about political topics and many stopped publishing his work due to its neutral demeanor and unpolitical subject matter. From then on, Kertész received increasingly less commissioned work and, with Elizabeth's consent, made plans to move to New York to work at the Keystone agency owned by Ernie Prince. So in 1936, amidst the threat of World War II and lack of work, Kertész and Elizabeth boarded the SS "Washington" bound for Manhattan.

American period

Kertész arrived in New York with his wife on October 15, 1936, intent on rekindling his inspiration and finding fame as a photographer in America. He and his wife lived out of the Beaux Arts Hotel in Greenwich Village. From his arrival, Kertész found life in America harder than he had imagined and thus started what he would refer to later in his life as the "absolute tragedy". He was now deprived of his French artist friends and the people in America did not respond as kindly as in Paris when their picture was being taken. Soon after his arrival, Kertész approached Beaumont Newhall, the Museum of Modern Art's photographic department director, who was readying a show entitled "Photography 1839–1937". But when Kertész offered Newhall some of his "Distortions" photographs to display, Newhall criticized them, which offended Kertész, who never forgave him. Despite this, Newhall took the photographs and displayed them; Kertész went on to star in his own solo December 1937 exhibition at the PM Gallery. The final nail in the coffin for Kertész was when the Keystone agency, who had offered him offsite work which would take him to various locations for his photojournalism, instead made him spend the entirety of his work day in the company's studio. Kertész tried to return to France to visit, but had no money, and when he had saved enough, World War II had broken out, making travel to France nearly impossible. His struggles with English only compounded his problems. He had coped with his inability to speak French while in France, but in New York, where he already felt like an outsider, the language barrier was debilitating.

Growing more and more frustrated with the city, Kertész left Keystone to look for other work after his boss Ernie Prince left the company in 1937. He was commissioned by the magazine "Harper's Bazaar" for an article on the Saks Fifth Avenue department store in their April 1937 issue. The magazine continued to work with him in further issues and Kertész took commissions from "Town and Country" to supplement his income. He was invited by "Vogue" to work for the magazine, but turned the offer down, fearing he could not enthusiastically photograph a set studio series as seen in the fashion world. He instead opted to work for "Life" magazine, starting with a piece called "The Tugboat". However, despite orders, he photographed more than just the subject matter of tugboats, instead photographing the whole harbour and its goings-on. Due to this, "Life" refused to publish the photographs and Kertész was once again frustrated with the constriction of the city and its photographic industry.

In the October 25, 1938 issue of "Look", the magazine finally printed a series of photographs called "A Fireman Goes to School"; but credited them to Ernie Prince, Kertész's former boss. Infuriated, Kertész considered never working with illustrated magazines ever again. He did however appear in the magazine "Coronet" in 1937, but was snubbed in 1939 when the magazine published a special issue containing a selection of "Coronet's" "Most memorable photographs", none of which were his. He later severed all ties to the magazine and its editor Arnold Gingrich. This was repeated in the June 1941 issue of "Vogue", which was dedicated to photography in honour of Condé Montrose Nast, head of Condé Nast Publishing. Despite having contributed to more than 30 commissioned photo essays and articles in both "Vogue" and "House and Garden", Kertész was omitted from the list of photographers. In the same year, since he and Elizabeth carried Hungarian passports, Kertész was designated an enemy alien due to World War II and was not permitted to photograph outside or anything to do with national security, and was later fingerprinted. Not wanting to be arrested or get in trouble with the police because Elizabeth had started a cosmetics company ("Cosmia Laboratories") with a Hungarian friend, Kertész ceased to do commissioned work and disappeared from all photographic work for three years.

Elizabeth became a US citizen on January 20, 1944, followed on February 3 by her husband. Despite fierce competition from other photographers such as Irving Penn, Kertész thrust himself back into commissioned work. Although he was left out of the 63 photographers listed in "Vogue's" "photographic genealogical tree", listing important photographers of the era, he was hired for Christmas commission work by "House and Garden", which he had worked for before. He was offered a position teaching photography to students at the New Bauhaus - American School of Design in June 1944 by its director László Moholy-Nagy. Despite the honour, he turned the offer down. He also released a new photographic book, "Day of Paris" in 1945, composed of photographs taken just before he left Europe. The book gained critical success. With his wife's cosmetic business booming, Kertész agreed when the new art director of "House and Garden" offered him a long-term, exclusive contract in 1946. Although the contract restricted his editorial abilities and forced him to spend many hours in the studio, the pay of at least US$10,000 per annum was satisfactory and all photographic negatives would be returned to him within six months.

Although his subject range was limited, Kertész was sent to many famous homes and places, and indeed overseas, passing through England as well as Budapest and Paris once more. During that 1945 to 1962 period at "House and Garden", more than 3,000 of his photographs were published in the magazine and he created a reputation for himself in the industry. However, Kertész made few personal pieces during this time and was starved for artistic creativity.

Later life and death

In 1946, Kertész was again placed in a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, which was composed mainly of photographs from his "Day of Paris" series. Kertész often refers to this as one of his greatest moments in America. Afterward however, it was not until 1962 that his photographs were in a public display again, when they were shown at Long Island University. During this dormant period spent working for "House and Garden" he was insulted once again when his work did not appear in Edward Steichen's famous "The Family of Man" show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. Thus towards the end of 1961, he broke his contract to Condé Nast Publishing after a minor dispute. Kertész, now feeling liberated from the confines of the magazine, thrust himself back into the international photographic scene. This later period of his life is often referred to as the "International period", where he was able to gain worldwide recognition and held many exhibitions in many countries. He appeared in an exhibition at the "IV Mostra Biennale Internazionale della Fotografia" in Venice in 1963 after his 1962 exhibition and later appeared that same year at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The gold medal he was awarded in Venice for his dedication to the photographic industry gave him a feeling of recognition he had never felt whilst working for "House and Garden". He later visited Argentina to see his brother Jenő.

During this period, Kertész experimented with colour photographs, but only produced a few of them. In 1964, soon after John Szarkowski became the photography director at the Museum of Modern Art, Kertész was featured in a solo show set up by Szarkowski. The show, and ultimately Kertész himself, were critically acclaimed and he was soon known within photographic circles as an important photographic figure, but still not quite at the level he had been hoping for all his life; he still believed that the world did not truly appreciate him and stood by this until his death. Kertész and Elizabeth moved to a 12th floor apartment near Washington Square Park in 1952, where he took what were to be arguably the best photographs he had taken since his arrival in America; the series depicts a snow-covered Washington Square with numerous silhouettes and tracks and was taken using a telephoto lens. Kertész appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the world in his later life, even into his early nineties. In 1965, due to his newfound success, Kertész was appointed as a member of the American Society of Media Photographers and was later awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974. In the years to come, in addition to appearing in numerous exhibitions, Kertész also received a number of awards: in 1974 he was made a Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in 1977 he received the Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture in New York, in 1980 the Medal of the City of Paris and the first Annual Award of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers in New York that same year. He received in 1981 an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bard College in New York, and again received the Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture that year. Kertész produced a number of new books during this period and also recovered some of the negatives he had left in France decades before.

Despite his successes, Kertész still felt unrecognised as a photographer. His last years were spent travelling to various locations around the globe for his exhibitions, especially Japan, and rekindling friendships with other artists. Elizabeth died in 1977 from cancer and was cremated. To cope with the loss, Kertész fell back on his new network of friends, often visiting them at night to talk. By this time, he was said to have learned basic English and often talked in what his friends called "Kertészian", a strange mixture of Hungarian, English and French. In 1979, the Polaroid Corporation gifted him with one of their new SX-70, which he experimented with into the 1980s. Still growing in fame, Kertész was granted the National Grand Prize of Photography in Paris in 1982, as well as the 21st Annual George Washington Award from the American Hungarian Foundation the same year. His dealer, Susan Harder, was especially active in compelling others to recognize his contributions to the history of photography. To add to the numerous awards collected over his career, Kertész was later given an honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art in 1983; the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in Paris in 1983, which was presented along with an apartment for future visits to Paris; the Maine Photographic Workshop's first Annual Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984; the Californian Distinguished Career in Photography Award in 1985; first Annual Master of Photography Award that same year, presented by the International Centre of Photography; as well as an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Parson's School of Design of the New School for Social Research. To add to the overwhelming amount of appreciation shown by the various institutions across the globe, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased 100 prints from him in 1984, the largest ever acquisition of photographs from a living artist by a museum.

Kertész died peacefully in his sleep at home on September 28, 1985; he was cremated and his ashes interred with his wife's. During his photographic career which had spanned for more than 70 years, Kertész had been given numerous awards for his achievements in photography. He was the first photographer ever to have a one-man show and had appeared in countless exhibitions around the world. He had travelled across the globe from Hungary and had eventually found recognition towards the end of his life and certainly after his death and is now considered one of the seminal figures of photojournalism and photo essay and if not photography as a whole.

Critical evaluation

Throughout most of his career Kertész was depicted as the "unknown soldier" who worked behind the scenes of photography, yet was rarely cited for his work, even into his death in the 1980s. Kertész thought himself unrecognised throughout his life, despite spending his life in the eternal search for acceptance and fame. Though Kertész received numerous awards for photography, he never felt both his style and work was accepted by critics and art audiences alike. Although, in 1927, he was the first photographer to have a solo exhibition, Kertész said that it was not until his 1946 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, that he first felt he received positive reviews on his work, and often cites this show as one of his finest moments in America. During his stay in America, he was cited as being an intimate artist, bringing the viewer into his work, even when the picture was that of subjects such as the intimidating New York CityCitation| last =Thornton| first =Gene| title = Photography View; Andre Kertesz's Romance with Paris| newspaper =The New York Times| pages = Arts & Leisure, D32.| year =1976| date =Sunday, April 4| url =http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10A16FD3D551A708DDDAD0894DC405B868BF1D3] and even his reproduced work printed after his death received good reviews; "Kertesz was above all a consistently fine photographer".Citation| last =Grundberg| first =Andy|title = Christmas Books '94; Photography| newspaper =The New York Times.| pages =| year =1994| date =December 4| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E2DA1630F937A35751C1A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2] Kertész's work itself is often described as predominantly utilising light and even Kertész himself said that "I write with light".Capa et "al", "Diary of Light", pp. inside cover.] He was never considered to "comment" on his subjects, but rather capture them – this is often cited as why his work is often overlooked; he stuck to no political agenda and offered no deeper thought to his photographs other than the simplicity of life. With his art's intimate feeling and nostalgic tone, Kertész's images alluded to a sense of timelessness which was inevitably only recognised after his death. Unlike other photographers, Kertész's work gave an insight into his life, showing a chronological order of where he spent his time; for example, many of his French photographs were from cafés where he spent the majority of his time waiting for artistic inspiration. Although Kertész rarely received bad reviews, it was the lack of them which lead to the photographer feeling distant from recognition. Now however, he is often considered to be the father of photojournalism.Citation| last =Smith| first =Craig S.|title = Her Budapest, From Synagogue to Café| newspaper =The New York Times.| pages =| year =2006| date =October 7| url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/07/books/07mart.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1190970537-YMiwnr9JUJMGhE0fWp1+UA] Even other photographers cite Kertész and his photographs as being inspirational; Henri Cartier-Bresson once said of him in the early 1930s, "We all owe him a great deal".

elected works

Bibliography

This list is compiled from Capa et "al",Capa et "al", "Diary of Light", pp. 198–206.] Corkin & LifsonCorkin & Lifson, "A Lifetime of Photography", pp. 9–11.] and Könemann et "al".Könemann et "al", "Aperture Masters of Photography: André Kertész", pp. 93–94.]
*1933 – "Enfants" published in Paris by Éditions d'Histoire et d'Art. A compilation of 54 photographs dedicated to his mother and his wife Elizabeth.
*1934 – "Paris Vu Par André Kertész" published in Paris by Éditions d'Histoire et d'Art. A compilation of 48 photographs from Kertész's time in Paris.
*1936 – "Nos Amies les Bêtes" published in Paris by Éditions d'Histoire et d'Art. A compilation of 60 photographs of various animals and is dedicated to Szigetbecse, where he took his earliest photographs.
*1937 – "Les Cathédrales du Vin" published in Paris by Etablissements et Brice. A compilation of 28 photographs.
*1945 – "Day of Paris" published in New York by J.J. Augustin. A compilation of 126 photographs, again of photographs during his stay in Paris.
*1964 – "André Kertész, Photographer" published in New York by the Museum of Modern Art. A compilation of 64 photographs from his exhibition that same year at the MOMA.
*1966 – "André Kertész" published in New York by Paragraphic Books. A compilation of 76 reproduced photographs.
*1968 – "The Concerned Photographer" published in New York by Grossman Publishers following "The Concerned Photographer" exhibition.
*1971 – "On Reading" published in New York by Grossman Publishers. A small number of photographs all of various people reading.
*1972 – "André Kertész: Sixty Years of Photography, 1912–1972" published in New York by Grossman Publishers. A compilation of 250 photographs.
*1974 – "J'aime Paris: Photographs Since the Twenties" published in New York by Grossman Publishers. A compilation of 219 photographs from his years in Paris and his later return trips there.
*1975 – "Washington Square" published in New York by Grossman Publishers. A compilation of 104 photographs of Washington Square which Kertész took using a telephoto lense.
*1976 – "Distortions" published in New York by Alfred A. Knopf. A compilation of 200 photographs featuring two naked models distorted in a funhouse mirror. These photographs were taken many years prior to the book's release.
*1976 – "Of New York" published in New York by Alfred A. Knopf. A compilation of 184 photographs taken of New York and is dedicated to Elizabeth.
*1977 – "André Kertész" published in New York by Aperture Inc. A compilation of 44 photographs as part of the "History of Photography series" by Aperture Inc.
*1979 – "Americana" published in New York by Mayflower Books Inc. A compilation of 64 photographs from throughout Kertész's career. The photos depict American ways of life and the book is one of four in a series. The other four books, "Birds", "Landscapes" and "Portraits" were released the same year, but Kertész thought the photograph reproductions in the books were terrible and for the first time, refused to autograph books.
*1979 – "Birds" published in New York by Mayflower Books Inc. A compilation of 64 photographs depicting bird life from throughout Kertész's career.
*1979 – "Landscapes" published in New York by Mayflower Books Inc. A compilation of 64 photographs featuring landscapes from throughout Kertész's career.
*1979 – "Portraits" published in New York by Mayflower Books Inc. A compilation of 64 portraiture photographs from throughout Kertész's career.
*1981 – "From My Window" published in Boston by New York Graphic Society/Little Brown. A compilation of 53 colour photographs, one of the rare times Kertész used colour film.

Exhibitions

This list includes material from Capa et "al", Corkin & Lifson, Könemann et "al",Könemann et "al", "Aperture Masters of Photography: André Kertész", pp. 92.] and Naef et "al".Naef et "al", "Of Paris and New York", p. 258.]
*1927 – Untitled exhibition of thirty photographs at Au Sacre do Printemps Gallery, Paris. The first one-man photographer exhibition ever.
*1927 – "III Salon International de Fotografie" in Zaragoza.
*1927 – "XXIIIe Salon International de Fotografie" in Paris.
*1928 – "1er Salon Indépendant de la Photographie" at the Theatre de Champs-Elysées, Paris.
*1928 – "Exposition de Photographie" at Galeriee L'Epoque, Brussels.
*1928 – "Internationale Foto-Salon" in Rotterdam.
*1929 – "Svaz cs. Klubu Fotografu Amateru" in Prague.
*1929 – "Fotografie der Gegenwart" in Essen.
*1929 – "Der Internationl Ausstellung von Film and Foto" in Stuttgart.
*1930 – "Das Lichtbild", a travelling show, in Essen and Munich.
*1930 – "Primer Salon Anual de Fotografia" in Buenos Aires.
*1930 – "11e Salon de l'Araignée" at the G.L. Manuel Freres Gallery, Paris.
*1930 – "Photographies d'aujourd'hui" at d'Art Contemporain Gallery, Paris.
*1931 – "Deuxieme Groupe de Photographes" at d'Art Contemporain Gallery, Paris.
*1931 – "Association Belge de Photographie" at the Xe Salon de Photographie, Brussels.
*1931 – "Photographies d'aujourd'hui" at d'Art Contemporain Gallery, Paris.
*1931 – "Neue Sportbauten" at Graphische Lehr-und Versuchsanstaldt, Vienna.
*1931 – "An Exhibition of Foreign Photography" at The Art Center, New York.
*1932 – "Palais des Beaux-Arts" at Internationale de la Photographie, Brussels.
*1932 – "Modern European Photography" at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York.
*1932 – "International Photographers" at the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
*1932 – "Modern Photography" at the Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
*1932 – Untitled exhibition at the Museum Fokwang, Essen.
*1933 – "Deuxieme Exposition Internationale de la Photographie et Cinema" in Brussels.
*1933 – "Groupe Annuel des Photographes" at the Galerie de la Pléiade, Paris.
*1933 – "The Modern Spirit in Photography" at The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, London.
*1934 – Untitled exhibition at Leleu's Studio, Paris.
*1934 – "Groupe Annuel des Photographes" at the Galerie de la Pléiade, Paris.
*1934 – "Exposition de la société des artistes photographes" at Studio Saint-Jacques, Paris.
*1934 – "The Modern Spirit in Photography and Advertising" at The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, London.
*1935 – Untitled exhibition at the Galerie de la Pléiade, Paris.
*1936 – "Exposition Internationale de la Photographie Contemporaine" at Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
*1937 – "Photography 1839–1937" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
*1937 – Untitled exhibition at the P M Gallery, New York.
*1937 – "Pioneers of Modern French Photography" at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York.
*1942 – "Image of Freedom" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
*1946 – Untitled exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. This was Kertész's first solo museum exhibition in America and Kertész often cited this as one of his finest moments whilst in America.
*1963 – Untitled exhibition at Modernage Photo Lab, New York.
*1963 – "André Kertész" at the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris.
*1964 – "André Kertész, Photographer" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
*1967 – "The Concerned Photographer" at the Riverside Museum, New York. This later travelled across the globe, including Tokyo.
*1970 – "Expo '70" at the U.S. Pavilion, Osaka.
*1971 – Untitled solo exhibition at the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest.
*1971 – Untitled solo exhibition at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
*1972 – Untitled solo exhibition at Valokuvamuseon, Helsinki.
*1977 – "André Kertész" at the Musée National d'Art Moderne du Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
*1979 – "André Kertész" at the Serpentine Gallery, London.
*1982 – "André Kertész, Master of Photography" at the Chrysler Museum, Virginia.
*1985 – "André Kertész: Of Paris and New York" at the Chicago Institute of Art, Chicago.
*1985 – Untitled exhibition at Printemps, Tokyo.
*2003 – André Kertész: The New York Period 1936 - 1985 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.
*2005 – "The Early Years" at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.
*2007 – "The Polaroids" at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.

ee also

*Kertész (crater), named after him

References

Further reading

*cite book |last=Greenough |first=Sarah |coauthors=Robert Gurbo & Sarah Kennel |title=André Kertész |year=2005 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=0-691-12114-1(A definitive book that uses only vintage prints and contains newly researched essays correcting many misconceptions about the photographer).

External links

* [http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase_view.php/34/1/1 André Kertész: Life and Its Juxtapositions – Biography on André Kertesz and examples of his work] .
* [http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/kertesz/ André Kertész: Seven Decades, at the Getty Center]
* [http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/kertesz/kertesz_ss1.shtm André Kertész, The National Gallery of Art, Washington] .
* [http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1883 Biography of the artist André Kertész from the J. Paul Getty Museum] .
* [http://www.artphotogallery.org/02/artphotogallery/photographers/andre_kertesz_01.html Fine Art Photography Masters: André Kertész] .
* [http://www.masters-of-photography.com/K/kertesz/kertesz.html Masters of Photography: André Kertész] .
* A lecture (audio/video) by Kati Marton on her book: [http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?search=hungarian&x=0&y=0 Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World]

Persondata
NAME = Kertész, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Kertész, Andor (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Photographer
DATE OF BIRTH = July 2, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH = Budapest, Hungary
DATE OF DEATH = September 28, 1985
PLACE OF DEATH = New York, United States