Last Supper, New York

1978, printed 1981 · Photograph

Particulars

1977
His wife Elizabeth dies
Elizabeth, who had created and run a successful cosmetic business for years, dies of cancer; to deal with the loss, Kertész falls back on his new network of friends, often visiting them to talk. By this time he has learned basic English and speaks what his friends call “Kertészian”, a mixture of Hungarian, English and French.
24 June 1977 – 2 October 1977
Exhibition: Documenta 6
1977–1982
Honours, 1977–1982
In 1977 he receives the Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture in New York (and again in 1981); in 1980 the Medal of the City of Paris and the first Annual Award of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers; in 1981 an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bard College; and in 1982 the National Grand Prize of Photography in Paris and the 21st Annual George Washington Award from the American Hungarian Foundation.
1979
Polaroid gives him an SX-70 camera
The Polaroid Corporation gives him one of its new SX-70 cameras, which he experiments with into the 1980s.
1983 · Award
Legion of Honour
1983
An honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art and an apartment in Paris
The Royal College of Art awards him an honorary doctorate, and in Paris the title of Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur comes together with an apartment for his future visits to the city.