Carrefour, Blois

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.

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.

1930

A silver medal at the Exposition Coloniale

At the Exposition Coloniale in Paris he is awarded a silver medal for services to photography.

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.

1932

Exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York

At the Julien Levy Gallery in New York the price of his proofs is set at US$20, a large sum of money during the Great Depression.