In 1925, André Kertész moved from his native Hungary to Paris, where he found a community of like-minded artists and writers. Among them was Piet Mondrian, the De Stijl painter who was becoming known for his geometric abstractions. Mondrian invited the young photographer to his studio in early 1926. As Kertész recalled years later:
“I went to his studio and instinctively tried to capture in my photographs the spirit of his paintings. He simplified, simplified, simplified. The studio with its symmetry dictated the composition. He had a vase with a flower, but the flower was artificial. It was colored by him with the right color to match the studio.”
Although Mondrian imposed rigid geometric order on everything in the apartment, Kertész found deviations in the curves of the staircase, vase, and the round boater hat hanging on the rack. (The hat belonged to the photographer’s friend Michel Seuphor, a painter and writer who authored a book on Mondrian, who had accompanied Kertész to the studio.) This photograph has become one of Kertész’s most famous, although it was not published until 1943. It was known previously only through exhibitions, including Kertész’s first exhibition in 1927 at the Parisian gallery Au Sacre du Printemps.
Date
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Inscribed recto, on mount, lower left, below image, in graphite: "A. Kertész"; recto, on mount, lower right, below image, in graphite: "Paris"; verso unchecked
Julien Levy Collection, Gift of Jean and Julien Levy
Reference Number
1975.1136
Extended information about this artwork
Morgan, Willard D., ed. 1942-1943. “The Complete Photographer: A Complete Guide to Amateur and Professional Photography.” Vol. 5. National Educational Alliance. p. 1584.
Travis, David. 1976. “Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection: Starting with Atget.” Exh. cat. p. 6, cat. 58.
Phillips, Sandra S., David Travis, and Weston J. Naef. 1985. “André Kertész: Of Paris and New York.” Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Thames and Hudson. p. 136, cat. 22.
Greenough, Sarah, Joel Snyder, David Travis and Colin Westerbeck. 1989. “On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography.” Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art/The Art Institute of Chicago. p. 298, cat. 240.
De Salvo, Donna. 1997. “Staging Surrealism: A Succession of Collections 2.” Exh. cat. Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University. p. 49.
Travis, David. 2005. “Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was.” Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press. p. 46.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection: Starting with Atget,” December 11, 1976–February 20, 1977; traveled to the International Center of Photography, New York, April 21-May 29, 1977; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, November 4-December 18 1977; Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 13-Ferbruary 26, 1978; Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois, March 16-April 30, 1978; and Cincinnati Art Museum, November 17-December 24, 1978. (David Travis)
Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, “A History of Photography from Chicago Collection,” April 24–June 6, 1982.
Art Institute of Chicago, “André Kertész: Of Paris and New York,” May 10-July 14, 1985; traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, December 19, 1985-February 23, 1986. (David Travis, Sandra S Phillips, Weston J. Naef)
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, “On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography,” May 7–July 30, 1989; traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, September 16–November 26, 1989; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 21, 1989–February 25, 1990.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Andre Kertesz 1894-1985 A Centennial Celebration,” December 3, 1994-April 9, 1995. (David Travis)
Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, “Staging Surrealism: A Succession of Collections 2,” September 20, 1997–January 4, 1998.
New York, New York, The Equitable Gallery, “Julien Levy: Portrait of an Art Gallery,” August 13–October 31, 1998.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was,” August 13–November 6, 2005. (David Travis)
Paris, France, Maison Européene de la Photographie, “The Odyssey of an Icon: The Photographs by André Kertész,” October 31, 2006–January 7, 2007.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Photography on Display: Modern Treasures,” May 9–September 13, 2009.
Art Institute of Chicago, “When Collecting Was New: Photographs from the Robert A. Taub Collection,” December 15, 2012–May 12, 2013. (Michal Raz-Russo)
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