André Kertész: Double of Life

Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery presented the exhibition titled "Double of Life", featuring works from different periods throughout the career of André Kertész (1894-1985), one of the greatest photographers of all time. Recognized as a pioneer of photojournalism, for his experimental work developed with artists of Dada sensibilities, and for his experimentation with small-format cameras, Kertész was one of the most prolific and diverse photographers of the twentieth century.

Born in Hungary to a family working on finance and agriculture, André Kertész was fascinated by photography even as a child and began envisaging the images he intended to take right after he bought his own camera. He studied business administration at the Academy of Commerce in Budapest, but the lectures were of no interest to him. With his first camera, Kertész learned by himself how to use it, how to develop a film and how to print negatives to start photographing his family and his inner circle. He was wounded in his arm and chest while serving in the Austro-Hungarian army, but after recovering, Kertész decided to travel around Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Hungary to capture the everyday lives of soldiers, yet many of the negatives he took was lost during the World War I. Kertész then emigrated to Paris in 1925 to do freelance work for French publications. Continuing his work by photographing Parisian streets and artists, influenced mostly by artists like Picasso, Calder and Mondrian, he started a series of nude photographs, captured through convex mirrors in 1933. He moved to New York in 1936, planning to work for various magazines in the USA for a year. Signing a one-year deal with Keystone Studios, one of the major photography agencies of the 1930s, Kertész began freelancing for American Magazine, Collier's, Harper's Bazaar, House & Garden, Town and Country, Look, and Vogue.

The exhibition presented works from three periods, Hungary (1894-1925), France (1925-1936), and America (1936-1962), and brought together a total of 187 photographs – 161 black and white, gelatin silver prints, and 26 color prints.

Curator: Engin Özendes