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The S K Josefsberg Studio is pleased to
present the work of one of the great Hungarian photographer’s André Kertész, on view at the gallery January 15 –
February 28, 2004.
 Acknowledged to have been central
in shaping the photographic style of an entire epoch, André
Kertész's influence on the history of photography has been
described by J. Paul Getty Museum’s Photography Curator,
Weston Naef, as "a little like Christopher Columbus, who
discovered a new world that, in the end, was named for someone
else." The essence of Kertész’s style was his power to wrest
poetry from a happenstance moment; to turn the quickness of
that moment into "the decisive moment." Kertész's incisive,
modernist view of the commonplace experience is subsequently
seen in the work of Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well
as legions of imitators, many of whom are not aware of working
in a mode which Kertész invented.
Born in Hungary, July 2, 1894, Kertész made his first
photographs in 1912. During the First World War he was one of
the few recruits to don a camera, taking candid shots of his
comrades fighting in Poland. Wounded in 1915, he was sent to a
military hospital back in Budapest to convalesce. After the
war was over, he reluctantly returned to his day job at the
stock exchange, but continued to chronicle his life in
photographs.
An exodus of artists and creative types flooded Paris in the
1920’s, and Kertész was among the ranks that included George
Hoyningen-Huene, Philippe Halsman, Germaine Krull, David
“Chim” Seymour, Horst P. Horst, Lisette Model, Florence Henri,
Bernice Abbott and Man Ray, among others. Surrounded by and
contributing to the flourishing, artistic vibe, Kertész
produced his most noted masterpieces during this time: Chez
Mondrian, 1926; Satiric Dancer, 1926; Mondrian's Pipe and
Glasses, 1926; Fork & Plate, 1928; Shadow, The Eiffel Tower,
1929; Pont des Arts, 1929-32. During this fruitful period,
Kertész was also toying with distortion, first touched on when
he was still in Hungary, photographing swimmers underwater.
This later incarnation utilized fun-house mirrors and
dominated his production in the early 1930’s: Examples include
Melcholic Tulip, 1930 and the nude Distortions from 1933 (made
at the request of the humor magazine Le Sourire).
 He and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to New York in 1936. His
most recent photographs, at that time, were the nude
Distorions, which were coolly received by the American arts
community, deemed as pornographic and "too human." Despite the
lack of acceptance of the Distortions, he continued to make
his living as a freelance photographer, though never
neglecting his personal work. This American period illustrates
his dislocation and isolation from the greater community. It
was during this time that he produced such elegiac images as
Arm & Ventilator, 1937 and Washington Square, 1954.
It was in 1964 that artist’s photographs received their due
recognition—John Swarkowski mounted the first solo exhibition
of André Kertész’s work at the Museum of Modern Art. It was
after this momentous exhibition that the artist began to
receive countless honors and awards for his photographs,
including the Guggenheim Fellowship (1974). André Kertész died
in 1985.
The exhibition at the S K Josefsberg Studio will be divided
into two discreet sections: The primary gallery space will
mingle Kertész’s most well known images with some lesser known
gems; the secondary gallery will display images of New York.
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