ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894-1985)

Aux Halles, 1928

Details

ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894-1985)
Aux Halles, 1928
gelatin silver print, printed 1930s
dated '1928' in pencil by the artist (on the verso)
7 5/8 x 9 5/8in. (19.3 x 24.4cm.)

Provenance

From the Estate of the Artist;
Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago

Literature

Photographie, 1931, no. 112, n.p.; Fárová, ed., André Kertész, Grossman Publishers, 1966, pl. 49; Ducrot, ed., André Kertész: Sixty Years of Phototography, Grossman Publishers, 1972, p. 123; Phillips, et al. André Kertész: Of Paris and New York, Art Institute of Chicago Metropolitan Museum of Art Thames and Hudson, 1985, cat. no. 64, p. 159; André Kertész: Observations, Thoughts, Reflections, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, 2005, p. 37

Lot Essay

Another print of this was included in the important 'Das Lichtbild' exhibition in Munich in 1930.

Less well know than his widely published study of a fork resting on a plate, this remarkable 'street' picture exploits precisely comparable devices to turn a commonplace moment into a powerful construction of hard light and shade and dynamic form. The study in Les Halles is perhaps all the more impressive for being evidently a 'found' subject by comparison with the seeming contrivance of the fork and its shadow.
This image was made with a newly acquired Leica that allowed the photographer an enhanced freedom of movement and composition.

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