André Kertész's everyday poetry – in pictures

André Kertész began taking photographs in his native Hungary in 1912, before moving to Paris and then New York, where he lived for almost 50 years. A pioneer of the photographic artform, he was a contemporary of Mondrian and Chagall, though his work was not determined by prevailing schools or styles. Instead, his poetic approach to scenes of everyday life offers a new perspective on reality.

Main image: Washington Square, January 9 1954. Photograph: André Kertész

  • Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom, Hungary, 1917

    In 1912, with his first salary from the stock exchange, André Kertész bought his first ICA glass plate camera. His hobby soon took over. He photographed peasants, Romani and landscapes, as well as poetic compositions featuring his younger brother Jenő as a character.All photographs: André Kertész c/o Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Dist Rmn © Donation André Kertész
    Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom, Hungary, 1917

  • The shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1929

    Relocating to Paris in 1925, Kertész moved through the city as an anonymous flaneur. He observed Paris from cafe to park, or simply watched from the window of his apartment.
    The shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1929

  • Champs Elysees, 1929

    Kertész once explained: ‘I regard myself as an amateur today, and I hope that’s what I will stay until the end of my life. Because I’m forever a beginner who discovers the world again and again.’
    Champs Elysees, 1929

  • Mondrian’s studio, Paris 1926

    In 1926, Kertész made photographs in the studio of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The dynamic of lines and shadows in the interior of the studio; a composition with two pairs of glasses and the artist’s pipe in an ashtray on a table - they are portraits of Mondrian in absentia.
    Mondrian’s studio, Paris 1926

  • Mondrian’s Eyeglasses and Pipe, Paris, 1926

    Using reflections, doubles and shadows, Kertész continually plays with the suggestion of presence and absence, the difference between what we see and what we feel.
    Mondrians Eyeglasses and Pipe Paris 1926

  • Budapest, 1915

    Kertész concentrated on those who were not caught up in the speed of the city but who like Kertész himself had the time to watch from public benches and kerbstones.
    Budapest, 1915

  • Washington Square, 1954

    Moving to New York in 1936, Kertész observed life in the neighbourhood where he lived, from the window of his apartment on Washington Square, just as he had done in Paris.
    Washington Square, 1954

  • Burlesque (Satiric Dancer), 1926

    Kertész made this photo in the Paris studio of fellow Hungarian Étienne Beőthy, in which dancer Magda Főrstner mimics one of Beőthy’s sculptures.
    Burlesque (Satiric Dancer), 1926

  • Lost cloud, New York, 1937

    In New York, wandering through the city, Kertész concentrated on the constructivist composition of buildings, on the varied street furniture and on people at the margins of society.
    Lost cloud, New York, 1937

  • Elizabeth and I, 1931

    At the stock exchange, Kertész had got to know the love of his life, Erzsébet Salamon (Elizabeth). The couple married in 1933 and they were together until her death in 1977.
    Elizabeth and I, 1931
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