The Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, in co-production with Agra Publications, has released a volume dedicated to one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, ANDRE KERTESZ (Hungary 1894-USA 1985). This publication was launched on the occasion of the major retrospective exhibition of the photographer at the Museum of Cycladic Art, following a corresponding exhibition in Thessaloniki.
The volume consists of 216 pages featuring introductory texts by Platon Rivellis, as well as 140 select photographs by Kertesz, carefully chosen from his entire body of work, which dramatically influenced 20th-century photography. This collaboration marks the second joint project between the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography and Agra Publications, following the photographic volume of the great contemporary photographer Bernard Plossu.
Andre Kertesz was one of the greatest photographers of the century, not only because his work endures over time and continues to inspire admiration, nor because the depth and multi-layered essence of his writing served as a teaching resource for many other significant photographers. He is one of the most important creators in the history of global photography, as every piece is infused with something greater than what appears, or conversely, manages to show that the most significant reveals itself in the surface of daily life.
His work occupies a space equally important in the history of 20th-century photography as that of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Robert Capa. Rare are the photographers whose work is associated with so many 'landmark images' differing in style. Cartier-Bresson, when asked which photograph of Kertesz he preferred, replied: the next one that will come out of his camera.
The volume "Mirror of a Life" achieves the reflection of all the significant periods of the creator, allowing the viewer to juxtapose the initial stages in Hungary with the fertile years in Paris and then with the more solitary path during his time in America.
Kertesz, above all, proved that the simple is ultimately complex. He may be one of the photographers with the most rigorously crafted form and an unparalleled control over the geometric structure of the image. Nevertheless, this capability goes almost unnoticed, and it would be an exaggeration, if not blasphemy, to label him as a formalist.
For him, as well as for every significant creator, content always prevails. A master for many creators, such as Cartier-Bresson and Brassai, Andre Kertesz is one of the greatest figures in the history of photography. However, his work resists analysis and overturns every commentary. There is no clearer gaze than his own, and no emotions more articulate than those he transcribes within his photographs.
Self-taught, he remained true to his belief: 'What I feel, I do'. If he flirts with different movements, such as surrealism, constructivism, or humanism, often heralding them, his photographic journey cannot be limited to a singular aesthetic, social, or moral proposition. Kertesz persists in his visual perspective, which he could not renounce to please a client or to conform to a trend.
Discreet but clear, his vision remains utterly natural.
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