E. Csorba Csilla: A kamera poétája. Adré Kertész-fotó a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum gyűjteményeiből (Budapest, 2019)
Frédéric Rauser: Egy fotográfus Párizsban / Frédéric Rauser: A Photographer in Paris
A Photographer in Paris Frédéric Rauser “Each time Kertész presses the release button I feel his heart beat.” So said Henri Cartier-Bresson. We are aware that André Kertész’s heart stopped beating but his photographs, some of which are exhibited here, are timeless and perfectly demonstrate the history of avant-garde photography. Kertész created a new photographic style where imagination plays the leading role, and it is via the imagination that he addresses us. He is able to reveal new, formerly unsuspected horizons through the firmness of the lens and volatility of the subject matter. "My photography is actually a visual diary. [...] It is a tool which helps me express and describe my life exactly as poets and writers render their experiences on paper.” Between 1925 and 1936 André Kertész lived in Paris. He was one of the most significant characters in the art world, as photographs in this exhibition show. His works emanate a special poetic nature, even in everyday genres such as the photoreport. In 1926 in Paris he photographed the dancer Magda Förstner in the studio of sculptor István Beöthy. It was when his famous work Satirical Dancer was taken. From 1926 he shot special portraits, which put life into immobility by means of Kertész's new, visual, poetic language. During this period he enlarged a large part of his shots to picture postcard size, originally for financial reasons, yet the small size continued to remain his characteristic signature. In Paris Kertész met the greatest artists living in the French capital: Mondrian, Chagall, Brâncuşi and Man Ray. He was in close contact with many of the noted contemporary artists, yet he was always able to remain independent. Streets in Paris provided special themes. They made the play of refections, shadows and mirror images possible for him. In 1930 optical deformations began to interest him, and when VU magazine commissioned Kertész to make a portrait of the new chief editor, the young Carlo Rim, he photographed him in front of distorting mirrors at the fun fair. In 1933, commissioned by the erotic magazine Le Sourire, he made a fantastic series of nudes, known today as Distortions. His book Paris vu par Kertész (Paris Seen by André Kertész) with Pierre Mac Orlan’s introduction was published in 1934. The title shows precisely how much 15
