1894. Born in Budapest in Jewish family, his father
runs a bookshop and his mother a tearoom. He has two brothers Imre and his
favorite, the younger brother Jenö.
1909.
Commercial
studies in Budapest Lyceum. Death of his father.
1912. Given his first camera by Jenö, an ICA box with
4,5x6 cm plates. Immediately begins experimenting with it in the company of his
brother. Obtains his baccalaureate, starts working without enthusiasm at the
Budapest stock exchange.
1914. Outbreak of WWI, enlisted in Austro-Hungarian army.
His brother sends him a new camera which he will use throughout the war taking
curiously tender pictures of daily life in the barracks.
1915. Comes down with typhoid fever and is later seriously
wounded in arm and breast.
1917. Publishes his first photographs in Hungarian
weekly.
1918. End of the War goes back to stock exchange.
Practices photography constantly with the help of Jenö.
1919. Meets his future wife Ersébet Salomon. The new
Hungarian regime of Admiral Horty introduces anti-Semitic legislation,
particularly in university education.
1921. Leaves
his job, meets Hungarian artists, works in the country for an apiculturist
(“happiest weeks of my life”).
1922. Shows 3 photographs in exhibition of the national
association of amateur photographers.
1925. One of his photos is published for the first
time on magazine cover. Leaves for Paris with new camera a Goerz Ango Anschütz
10x12,5 cm, a gift from his family. Registers with the prefecture de police as
a “photo reporter” with an address on rue Vavin.
1926. Publishes his first photos in German newspapers and
in French magazine Art et Industrie.
Works as retoucher in Boulogne photography studio. Joins large Hungarian
artistic community. Meets Piet Mondrian in his studio. Receives a commission
from the architect André Lurçat.
1927. Works as free-lance photographer for a variety
of French and German papers. First solo show in Galerie du Sacre du Printemps.
Shows also in 22nd French photography salon.
1928. Buys his first Leica. Fitrst commissions from
prestigious magazine Vu. Marries
Hungarian neighbor Rozsa Klein (Rogi André). Participates in first avant garde
photo exhibition in Paris (“Premier salon
indépendant de la photographie”) in the company of Atget, Abbott, Krull,
Man Ray, Albin Guillot, Paul Nadar…). Exhibits in photo salons abroad:
Amsterdam, Prague, Brussels.
1929. Experiments with images deformed by reflecting
surfaces taken at the Luna Park fair ground of the Bois de Boulogne. Publishes
in Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. Participates in host of international
exhibitions notably in Germany.
1931. Erzebet Salomon arrives in Paris. Kertész leaves
his wife Rogi. Participates in photo shows in Paris, Basel, Brussels, Essen and
New York.
1932. Divorces Rogi. Exhibits with Royal Photogaphic
Society in London, at the Julien Levy gallery in New York and also in Brooklyn,
Buffalo and Brussels.
1933. Publication of his first book, “Enfants” (“Children”). 12 “distortions”
are published in Sourire. Marries Erzsébet
Salomon. His mother dies in Budapest.
1934.
Publication of “Paris seen by André Kertész” 60 photos with a text by
Mac Orlan.
1936.
Publication of “Nos amies les
bêtes”. The Kérteszes leave
for New York. Under contract with the Keystone photo agency.
1937. Leaves Keystone, works as a free-lancer. First
solo show in New York at the PM galleries. Participates in historic photo show
at MoMA.
1938. Works for House
and Garden and Vogue. Shows with
Julien Levy and at the Baltimore museum of Art.
1939. Commissions from General Motors and the American
Ballet Theater.
1941. His Hungarian nationality makes of him an enemy alien
when the USA enters WWII. Participates in “The Image of Freedom” show at MoMA.
1944. Obtains American nationality with Elizabeth. Begins
working again.
1945. Joins American Society of Photographers.
1947. Under contract with House and Garden.
1948. Returns to Europe, commission of French embassy in
Washington to photograph French monuments and country side.
1950. Kertészes suffer from health problems.
1952. They move to 2, 5th Avenue from which
Kértesz will frequently photograph Washington Square Park.
1956. They buy country house in Newtown Connecticut.
1960. Exhibits in “Photography in the Fine Arts II” a
travelling exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1961. Hospitalized at Mount Sinai in New York. Ceases work
with Condé Nast.
1962. Visits his brother Jenö, now in Buenos Aires. First
retrospective exhibition at Long Island University in Brooklyn. A MoMA exhibition
is cancelled because of the departure of Edward Steichen, director of the Photography
Department.
1963. Solo exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Shows at Venice Biennale. Recovers suitcase of negatives left in France with an
agent before the war and hidden in the Dordogne.
1972. Signs exclusive contract with Light Gallery in New
York.
1973. Four solo shows in New York and California.
1974. Receives Guggenheim grant to restore his old
negatives. Publication of “J’aime Paris. Photographs since the Twenties”.
1975. Publication of “Washington Square”.
1976. Publication of “New York…” and “Distortions”. Made
commander of Arts and Letters in France. BBC makes a documentary on his career.
1977. CBS documentary. Death of Elizabeth. Retrospective exhibition
at the just inaugurated Pompidou Centre in Paris.
1979. Solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London.
1980. “Photographs of a Lifetime” at the Israel Museum of
Art in Jerusalem.
1982. Receives Grand
prix national de photographie in France.
1983. Made Commander of Legion of Honor.
1984. Donates his negatives, archives and correspondence to
the French state. Metropolitan Museum buys 100 photos.
1985. Visits his brother Jenö in Argentina who dies during
the visit. Kertész dies shortly afterwards in his sleep on his return to New
York.
