Untitled (Still Life with Glass Objects)

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.

1980

Arnaud Maggs’s portrait mosaic

Kertész sits for the Canadian artist Arnaud Maggs, resulting in the large-scale portrait project André Kertész, 144 Views (1980), which, according to Maggs, Kertész described as a “portrait mosaic”.

1983 · Distinction

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.

1984

The Metropolitan Museum buys 100 prints

The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchases 100 of his prints, its largest acquisition of work from a living artist.

1984–1985

“I’m still hungry”

Asked at 90 why he is still taking photographs, he replies, “I’m still hungry.” His last years are spent travelling around the globe for his exhibitions, especially in Japan, and rekindling friendships with other artists, though he still feels unrecognised.