Trained for a career in the stock exchange, Kertész devoted his earnings and free time to explore his intrigue for photography. His early images of family members and the Hungarian countryside emulated drawings and etchings found in magazines of the day. However, the work he created during this period reveals a finely developed vision, present from the moment he first picked up the camera in 1912. André’s early ability to construct lyrical images, infused with personal insight and wit, remained a constant throughout his long career in photography.
In 1925, André moved to Paris to fulfil his dream of working as a photographer. His pioneering vision, by now well established, brought him instant success. His approach to the medium defined the shape of photojournalism in Europe. During the next ten years, Kertész built an extraordinary body of work, influenced by and influencing the many artists with whom he interacted in Paris between the wars.
André Kertész left Paris for New York in 1936 on what was meant to be a one year sabbatical. From the beginning, his career in the United States proved problematic. His vision, personality and artistic temperament never found a place in American photojournalism. Unable to return to Europe, he accepted a contract to work for House and Garden magazine in 1949, where he languished for thirteen years. Although adored by Conde Nast for shaping the look of the magazine, André dismissed this period as his “lost years”.
In 1962, at the age of 68, André broke his contract to pursue his artistic career. For the next 23 years he photographed with the recaptured enthusiasm of his early years in Hungary and Paris. Kertész’s work in this period was prolific and by the time he passed away in 1985, he had been re-established as a major figure in the history of photography. Honoured by artists and photographers, collected by major museums and galleries, the subject of scholarly studies, and with over twenty books published in his name, André Kertész’s long battle for recognition had been won.
Robert Gurbo, Curator of the Estate of André Kertész
Less