Esztergom, winter, 1917 ©Estate of André Kertész, collection of the Hungarian National Museum
The National Museum pays tribute to André Kertész with three special exhibitions.
March, 23. and September, 22. 2024.
The Hungarian National Museum will be organizing a series of exhibitions on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of the world-famous photographer André Kertész. At the exhibitions a selection of Kertész pictures bought in New York in 2021. These present never-before-seen pictures at 3 locations: @ Esztergom’s – Balassa Museum, @ Hungarian National Museum – Budapest and @ Robert Capa Center – Budapest.
After his emigration to Paris in 1925, André Kertész returned home several times, opened several exhibitions. A memorial museum bearing his name was created in Szigetbecs from the photographs he gave in Hungary shortly before his death.
This time, the focus of the National Museum’s exhibition series is not the reminiscing artist, but a young man born in Budapest on July 2, 1894, who was still searching for his way for a long time. He spent his childhood in Teleki tér and then Népszínház utca (both streets located in district VIII. Budapest) and also spent a lot of time with his relatives in Szigetbec and Tiszaszalka. and as a soldier he could visit almost every corner of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Loves and passions, danger to life, and the boredom of being a clerk were all part of the class. He moved to Paris at the age of 31, but he did not come with an empty bag. Our series explores the background of this launch and presents it to visitors for the first time.
In 2021, the sales contract for “André Kertész’s photo collection” covered a total of 1,163 pictures, the majority of which were taken before 1925. These are: 943 contact copies, 59 larger vintages, 151 Polaroid photos, 9 personal photos and a collage. After the purchase, was carried out a condition assessment of the photographs at the National Museum. The museologist of the Historical Photo Gallery, historian Éva Fisli, dealt with the registration of the photographs. In the last decade, she was able to research several times in the Kertész archive in France, and the documents she got to know there helped her clarify inaccuracies related to Kertész’s youth. She undertook latter as the curator of the exhibition series that will be shortly to start.
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