Fotografía y postal. Virtual Member Lecture: André Kertész—Postcards from Paris. The Art Institute Chicago.

 

Offering insight into the exhibition "André Kertész: Postcards from Paris," Liz Siegel, curator of Photography and Media, explores how Kertész carved out a modern photographic practice through intimate prints on carte postale paper and learned from a circle of international artists in 1920s Paris.

 

Photographer André Kertész (American, born Hungary, 1894–1985) arrived in Paris in the fall of 1925 with little more than a camera and some savings.

By the end of 1928, he was contributing regularly to magazines and exhibiting his work internationally alongside well-known artists like Man Ray and Berenice Abbott. The three years between his arrival in Paris and his emergence as a major figure in modern art photography marked a period of dedicated experimentation and exploration for Kertész. During this time he carved out a photographic practice that allowed him to move between the realms of amateur and professional, photojournalist and avant-garde artist, diarist and documentarian.