André Kertész

“Szigetbecse, the cradle of my art”

André Kertész
«Szigetbecse, the cradle of my art»

30 May 2019 — 1 September 2019

Curator: Gabriella Csizek
Exhibition organised jointly with the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, Budapest, Hungary
Images are courtesy of André Kertész Memorial Museum, Szigetbecse, Hungary
With the support of: the Embassy of Hungary, Hungarian Cultural Centre in Moscow, Gedeon Richter, MVM Group

As part of the XI Moscow International Biennale ‘Fashion and Style in Photography-2019’ the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents an exhibition by André Kertész, one of the most prominent photographers of the 20th century.

André Kertész is an iconic figure in the history of world photography. Throughout his life he experimented with diverse movements such as surrealism, constructivism and the humanist tendency in photography. Kertész formed his own recognisable style of photography, often anticipating the emergence of new trends and directions.

"In his oeuvre, the Hungarian André Kertész created his own peculiar universe, in which he established the language of the modern photographic approach. Via his photographs, he teaches us until the end of times about the elemental necessity and joy of image creation, and the basic principles of the medium itself.

‘Photography is my only language,’ said Kertész, and he spoke this language in a way it had never been spoken before. Subjectivity and modernism are intertwined in his lyrical images. His deeply humanistic and personal, and at the same time universal images address all of us. They embrace the experience of seeing, the joy of taking photographs, the magic of discovery, and the small miracles of reality. His photographs are autonomous works of art, natural, articulate, as well as powerful and perfect in their simplicity. The peculiar unity of form and meaning reveals how aesthetics cannot exist without ethics.

Starting from his childhood, he had been consciously preparing for becoming a photographer and experiencing the joy of creating images. Before he would have even held a camera, he had been taking internal pictures, so he already had his composition skills developed at the time of his first photographs. He was a natural photographer: he knew what he wanted, and he knew that his approach was the right direction.

He was writing a visual journal with his camera for seven decades, photographing what was interesting for him, what made an impression on him: his life, himself, his companion, his friends, his personal spaces, or the world surrounding him. The events and emotions of his life were transformed organically into images, captured with the accuracy of sensitive observation.

His oeuvre is linked to two continents (Europe and America) and three countries (Hungary, France, and the United States of America). And although the deserved international recognition arrived too late for him, he still has become one of the most renowned photographers of the world, and not only in professional circles, whose iconic images have become defining works of contemporary culture.

The images showcased in the exhibition André Kertész, ‘Szigetbecse, the Cradle of My Art’ were selected by the artist himself at the twilight of his life, as a gift for the settlement providing him with all those magical childhood experiences and giving home to the André Kertész Memorial Museum.

This personally compiled retrospective show includes not only the images tied to Szigetbecse but also the most well-known pieces of the oeuvre, providing a unique overview of the world-renowned author’s work."

Gabriella Csizek