André Kértész

The photographer André Kertész (Andor Kertész) was born in Budapest on July 2, 1894. With his creative period spanning more than 70 years, André Kertész is one of the first and most important photographers of artistic photography. Kertész began taking photographs as a self-taught photographer in 1912. In 1918, during the Hungarian Revolution, most of this early work was destroyed. In 1922 André Kertész moved to Paris, where he quickly came into contact with the artistic avant-garde at Montparnasse, with Man Ray and the Surrealists around André Breton. He worked as a freelance photographer and was friends with the photographers Brassaï (from 1928) and Robert Capa (from 1933), who also came from Hungary. Kertész strolls through the metropolis of Paris, photographing streets and houses, on rooftops and in parks. In 1927, the first solo exhibition takes place at the Galerie Sacre du Printemps in Paris. In 1928 André Kertész participates with Man Ray, Nadar, Berenice Abbott and others in the Salon de l'Escalier, the Premier Salon Indépendant de Photographie at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. André Kertész was able to publish his photographs in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the "London Times", the "Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung" or the "Frankfurter Illustrierte" as well as the photo magazine "VU", newly founded by Lucien Vogel. Iconic photographs of the 20th century. In 1936 André Kertész emigrated to the USA, and in 1944 he received American citizenship. He works for magazines such as "Harper's Bazaar", "Vogue", "Look", "Collier's", "Coronet" and others. From 1949 to 1962 André Kertész worked exclusively for Condé Nast Publications. André Kertész's black-and-white photographs are of formally outstanding composition and great elegance. He shows seemingly simple things and situations with surreally inspired poetry, with which he also inspires many of his fellow photographers. Such early photographs by André Kertész as "Swimmer under Water" (1917), "Chez Mondrian" (1926) or "The Fork" (1928) and many others are among the most famous photographs of the 20th century. Stylistic representative of artistic photography. André Kertész makes a significant contribution to establishing photography as an art. He received numerous honors and awards, including the gold medal at the Venice Biennale in 1962. In 1964, the Museum of Modern Art in New York organized a solo exhibition. In 1983 André Kertész was awarded an honorary doctorate by London's Royal College of Art and made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor. Due to a serious illness, André Kertész was hardly able to leave his apartment in his last creative phase from the mid-1960s onwards, and the work complex of photographs, which he took from the window of his apartment in New York, was created. With these, André Kertész published the book "From my Window" in 1981 - finely composed still lifes that once again reveal him as a master of simple things and light. In 2011, two retrospectives will be on view at the Fotomuseum Winterthur and the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, showcasing the impressive body of work of this important photographer of the 20th century. André Kertész died in New York on September 28, 1985.