André Kertész | On Reading

Exhibition Dates: February 7 - March 7, 2009

Our exhibition highlights André Kertész’s life long interest with people caught in a deeply personal, yet universal, moment: the act of reading.

Perhaps in memory of his late father, who was a bookseller, or more likely because of his deep understanding of the transformative nature of the printed word, Kertész began taking pictures of people absorbed in reading when he first started photographing in his native Hungary.  Featuring a selection of photographs taken between 1915 and 1980, Kertész captured readers from all walks of life in such distant locales as Tokyo, Paris, Hungary and New York, and almost every conceivable place – on rooftops, in public parks, on crowded streets, waiting in the wings of a school play or huddled in doorways.  Both playful and poetic, Kertész’s photographs celebrate the absorptive power and pleasure of this solitary activity.