Paris, The Flea Market

September 1925

Moves to Paris against his family’s wishes

He leaves for Paris, then the artistic capital of the world, against his family’s wishes, leaving behind his mother, his unofficial fiancée Elizabeth, both brothers and his uncle Hoffmann, who dies shortly afterward; Jenő later emigrates to Argentina. Soon after arriving he changes his first name from Andor to André, which he keeps for the rest of his life; at first he takes commissions from several European magazines, in Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, and then works for VU, France’s first illustrated magazine.

1927

His first solo exhibition at the Au Sacre du Printemps gallery

Jan Slivinsky presents 30 of his photographs at the “Sacre du Printemps Gallery”, and Kertész becomes the first photographer to have a one-man exhibition. At the show Paul Dermée dubs him “Brother Seer” and “Brother Seeing Eye”, alluding to a medieval monastery where all the monks were blind but one; Kertész has become connected with members of the growing Dada movement.

1928

Switches to a Leica

He switches from plate-glass cameras to a Leica; this period is one of his most productive, with daily photographing divided between magazine commissions through the late 1920s and his personal pieces.

15 October 1936

Emigrates to New York

Magazines emphasise political stories and stop publishing Kertész for his apolitical subjects; with commissions dropping and persecution of Jews increasing, he and Elizabeth decide to move, which may have saved his life, as four years later France would fall under Nazi occupation. They board the SS Washington and arrive in New York on 15 October 1936, living at the Beaux Arts Hotel in Greenwich Village; deprived of his artist friends, struggling with English and among Americans who reject having their photos taken on the street, he goes through a period he later calls the “absolute tragedy”.

1964

A solo show at MoMA under John Szarkowski

Soon after John Szarkowski becomes photography director at the Museum of Modern Art he features Kertész in a solo show; with his work critically acclaimed, Kertész gains recognition in the photographic world as an important artist, and his photographs go on to be shown in exhibitions throughout the world, even into his early nineties.

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.