Broken Plate

1925–1936

The circle of Hungarian émigrés and portraits of friends

In Paris he is among numerous Hungarian artists, including François Kollar, Robert Capa, Emeric Fehér, Brassaï and Julia Bathory, as well as Man Ray, Germaine Krull and Lucien Aigner, who also emigrated there, and becomes involved with the Dada movement; visiting his sculptor friends, he is fascinated by Cubism. He makes photo portraits of the painters Piet Mondrian and Marc Chagall, the writer Colette and the film-maker Sergei Eisenstein.

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.

late 1920s

A secret marriage to Rosza Klein (Rogi André)

He secretly marries the French portrait photographer Rosza Klein, who worked under the name Rogi André; the marriage is short-lived and he never speaks about it.

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.

early 1930s

Cartier-Bresson: “We all owe him a great deal”

Henri Cartier-Bresson says of Kertész that they all owe him a great deal; he later comes to be considered the father of photojournalism, and other photographers cite him as an inspiration.

1931

Elizabeth joins him in Paris

He had gone back to Hungary in 1930 to visit his family, and after his return to Paris Elizabeth follows him in 1931, despite opposition from her family; she had stayed behind until her future husband was well enough established in Paris for them to marry. Elizabeth and André remain together for the rest of their lives.