The exhibition which presents a rich selection from the collection of the André Kertész Memorial Museum in Szigetbecse, was created in collaboration with the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Academy in Rome.
“In his work, the Hungarian André Kertész created a universe of his own, in which he laid the foundations of the approach of the modern photographic language. Through his photographs, he teaches us until the end of time the necessity and the elementary joy of creating images as well as the fundamental principles of the medium itself. “Photography is my only language,” Kertész said, and in fact he had a mastery of it like no one before him.
In his lyrical images, subjectivity and modernism go hand in hand. His photographs are deeply humanist and personal, but at the same time bearers of universal messages, and speak to everyone. They include the experience of “seeing”, the joy of the shot, the magic of discovery, but also the small miracles of real life. His photographs are autonomous works of art, natural, clean, but also powerful and perfect in their simplicity. In his images, the peculiar unity of form and meaning reveals how aesthetics cannot exist without ethics.
From his childhood, Kertész consciously prepared himself to become a photographer and to experience the joy of creating images. Even before he could pick up a camera, he had already taken interior photos, so by the time of his first photographs he already had the necessary skills to produce compositions. He was a born photographer: he knew what he wanted and was aware that he had the right approach in his hands. He had used his camera for many decades as a visual diary, immortalizing everything that aroused his curiosity: his own life, himself, his partner, his friends, his personal spaces and the world around him. The events of his life and his emotions were organically transformed into images, captured with the precision of a keen and sensitive observer. Kertész worked to ensure that his work was linked to two continents (Europe and America) and three countries (Hungary, France and the United States of America). Although the international success he deserved came too late, he nevertheless became one of the most famous photographers in the world, and not only in the professional field; some of his iconic photographs in fact became emblematic works of contemporary culture.
The photographs exhibited in the exhibition Great Masters of Photography – André Kertész – are the result of a selection made by the artist himself at the end of his life, as a gift to the city that had given him unique experiences in his childhood and had dedicated the André Kertész Memorial Museum to him. This retrospective, curated by the artist himself, includes not only the images related to Szigetbecse, but also the most famous photographs from Kertész’s complete works, offering those interested a unique overview of the work of the world-famous artist.” (Gabriella Csizek, curator)
The exhibition will remain open to the public until November 22, 2024.
Hungarian Academy in Rome
Palazzo Falconieri – Via Giulia, 1
00186 Roma RM, Italy
https://culture.hu/it/roma
