André Kertész was a Hungarian-born American photographer known for his lyrical and formally rigorous pictures of everyday life. One of the most-inventive photographers of the 20th century, Kertész set the standard for the use of the handheld camera, created a highly autobiographical body of work, and developed a distinctive visual language.
Background
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. Andor, known as "Bandi" to his friends, was the middle child of three sons, including Imre and Jenő. When Lipót died in 1908 from tuberculosis, the widowed Ernesztin was without a source of income to support their three children. Ernesztin's brother, Lipót Hoffmann, provided for the family and acted much like a father to the boys. The family soon moved to Hoffman's country property in Szigetbecse. Kertész grew up in a leisurely pace of life and pastoral setting that would shape his later career path.
Education
Kertész studied at the Academy of Commerce in Budapest until 1912.
Kertész began photographing in 1912, the same year he took a job as a clerk at the Giro Bank of the Budapest Stock Exchange. During World War I he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. He saw action and continued taking pictures on the Eastern Front, where he was severely wounded. In 1918 he returned to work at the bank, photographing in his spare time.
Because of a lack of opportunities in Hungary, Kertész moved to Paris in 1925 to work as a freelance photographer. His poetic images of Paris street life, often taken from high vantage points, involved unexpected juxtapositions and made frequent use of reflections and shadows. In 1927 Kertész had a well-received show at the Au Sacre du Printemps Gallery in Paris. The following year he participated in the influential First Independent Salon of Photography. His photographs, notable for their blend of a romantic sensibility with modernist attitudes, were frequently cited by critics of the 1920s and ’30s as proof that photography could be considered a fine art.
Apart from his images of everyday life, Kertész took portraits of luminaries such as Russian filmmaker Sergey Eisenstein, Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, French writer Colette, Belorussian-French artist Marc Chagall, French painter Fernand Léger, American sculptor Alexander Calder, and Romanian-born French writer Tristan Tzara. Some of those portraits were made on assignment for the trailblazing French picture magazine Vu. Kertész worked as a lead photographer for Vu from its launch until 1936. Among his picture essays were those about a Trappist abbey, the tradespeople of Paris, Lorraine, Burgundy, and other regions of France. He also contributed to Art et Médecine and many other European periodicals.
In 1928 Kertész bought a Leica, a small handheld camera that gave him the ability to move more freely within any environment. Although he frequently staked out settings and patiently awaited the photographic moment, he was considered a pioneering street photographer, a label that implies quickly sizing up and capturing an unfolding situation. Street photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï, to whom Kertész taught photography, cited him as an important influence. He also mentored Hungarian-born American photojournalist Robert Capa.
In 1933 the humorous, often risqué magazine Le Sourire commissioned from Kertész a series of nude photographs using distorting mirrors. In the end, he made more than 200 Distortions. He continued to use distorting mirrors in his photography intermittently for the next half century. His first book, "Enfants" (1933; “Children”) was followed by "Paris Vu par André Kertész" (1934; “Paris Seen by André Kertész”), and "Nos Amies les Bêtes" (1936; “Our Friends the Animals”).
Kertész traveled to New York City in 1936 on a one-year contract with the Keystone Press Agency. Unhappy with the studio fashion work he was assigned and with life in New York, he soon broke his contract, though financial difficulties and World War II prevented his return to Europe. In 1944 he became a U.S. citizen.
From 1936 to 1947 Kertész worked as a freelance photographer for American magazines, including Look, Coronet, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Town and Country. However, some American editors considered his images too poetic and, therefore, unsuitable for their story and layout ideas. In 1947 he signed an exclusive contract with Condé Nast publications, becoming a staff photographer for House and Garden under art editor Alexander Liberman. Although Kertész was well paid, the steady work left him frustrated, in part because it left him little time to pursue his personal projects.
He quit Condé Nast in 1962 and soon achieved the public notice and favorable critical reception that had eluded him since his move to the U.S. A solo exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1964 – 1965, a Guggenheim fellowship in 1974, and a retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in 1977 – 1978 were among the honors that ensued. During the 1970s his images, offered by New York’s Light Gallery in limited-edition portfolios, helped launch the photography market for private collectors.
Kertész continued to make expressive and deeply personal images. He often photographed with a telephoto lens from his apartment overlooking Washington Square. Beginning in 1978, he used a Polaroid camera to create a major series that combined still life with views from his windows and paid homage to his wife, who had died in 1977.
Kertész had major exhibitions at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (1980), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1983), and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires (both 1985). Posthumous exhibitions of his work include traveling retrospectives organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2005), and the Jeu de Paume, Paris (2010). His books include "On Reading" (1971), "André Kertész: Sixty Years of Photography, 1912 – 1972" (1972), "J’aime Paris: Photographs Since the Twenties" (1974), and "Kertész on Kertész: A Self-Portrait" (1985).
Kertész died peacefully in his sleep at home on 28 September 1985; he was cremated and his ashes were interred with those of his wife.
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 unrecognized 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 City and even his reproduced work printed after his death received good reviews; "Kertész was above all a consistently fine photographer". Kertész's work itself is often described as predominantly utilizing light and even Kertész himself said that "I write with light". He was never considered to "comment" on his subjects, but rather capture them – this is often cited as to 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 recognized 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 commentary that leads to the photographer feeling distant from recognition. Now, however, he is often considered to be the father of photojournalism. 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."
Quotations:
“The moment always dictates in my work. Everybody can look, but they don't necessarily see... I see a situation and I know that it's right.”
When he was 90 years old, a person asked him why he was still taking photographs. He replied, "I'm still hungry."
Membership
Kertész was an honorary member of American Society Magazine Photographers.
Personality
Hungarian-born Andre Kertesz was a photographer who was one of the pioneers of the concept of photojournalism and photo essays. Even though he is today hailed as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, he personally felt that he never received the credit or the recognition he deserved. He was one of the first photographers who attempted not just to capture a moment with his camera, but to tell a story with his photographs. He felt that the visual medium was a powerful one and one strategically shot photograph can convey emotions and feelings a lot better than words can. His interest in photography had its roots in his childhood which was spent in the countryside, observing the leisurely pace of life around him.
Interests
poetry
Artists
Lajos Tihanyi and Gyula Zilzer
Connections
Kertész married Hungarian-born painter Rozsa Klein in 1928. He taught her photography, and she soon became a respected photographic portraitist known as Rogi André. In 1932 the couple divorced. The following year Kertész married another Hungarian, Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Salamon (also known as Erzsébet, or Elizabeth, Saly).