E. Csorba Csilla: A kamera poétája. Adré Kertész-fotó a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum gyűjteményeiből (Budapest, 2019)
E. Csorba Csilla: A kamera poétája. André Kertész fotói a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum gyűjteményeiben / Csilla E. Csorba: The Poet of the Camera Photographs by André Kertész in the Collections of the Petőfi Literary Museum
The Poet of the Camera Photographs by André Kertész in the Collections of the Petőfi Literary Museum Csilla E. Csorba Introduction What could be more appropriate to mark the centenary of Endre Ady's death than recall his memory with the photographs of an internationally renowned Hungarian photographer, André Kertész, and with their help, visit the scenes in Paris which echo with the poet’s footsteps and reflect his perspectives, and which he himself depicted in his poetry and prose. The photographic series by Kertész is the result of three crucial encounters: Ady meeting Léda, who had a pivotal effect on the poet’s experience of Paris; Ady meeting György Bölöni, who worked on maintaining the cult of Ady from their first meeting to his death; and finally, Bölöni meeting André Kertész who, as an already prominent photographer, undertook to illustrate the volume The Real Ady published in 1934. Andor (André) Kertész was born into a middle class family on 2 July 1894, exactly 125 years ago. This noted date of universal and Hungarian photography could not be celebrated better than in the company of the works he made of his friends, for the sake of his friends and for his friends, without any external expectations. Photographs by André Kertész were assembled from the collections of the Petőfi Literary Museum (commonly abbreviated as PIM) and its affiliates, the Kassák Museum and the National Theatre Museum and Institute, and were arranged with a loose thematic unity for the occasion of the two anniversaries.1 Kertész worked in every genre: he made portraits, still lifes, photo reports, genre pictures, as well as street and cityscapes. Yet there is no sharp dividing line between them, thus the published photographs are presented in thematic groups created for the occasion. André Kertész made well over a hundred thousand photographs during his long career. His shots naturally include sketches he made for himself, mediocre or less successful personal photos which did not grasp the moment perfectly, just as a painter’s oeuvre includes various studies, 19
