Distortion #147, Paris
1933; printed (c. 1974)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
19.0 × 24.8 cm (image) 20.5 × 25.3 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1976
© Estate of André Kertész, courtesy of Higher Pictures, New York
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Hungarian-born self-taught photographer André Kertész was one of many artists who moved to Paris in the 1920s. He had an eloquent eye for the medium and frequently produced images that have a gently Surrealist touch, achieved either through chance or planned juxtapositions. In 1933 he was commissioned by the risqué French magazine Le Sourire to create a suite of figure studies. Using a parabolic mirror, such as would be found at a carnival, Kertész produced a highly experimental series of distorted nudes – over two hundred images in four weeks – playfully stretching and expanding the bodies into these Surrealist, uncanny compositions.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in pencil on reverse u.c.: Paris 1933 / A Kertesz' (esz' underlined)
stamped in ink on reverse l.c.: PHOTO BY / ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ
inscribed in pen and pencil on reverse l.c.: (...illeg.) #147
inscribed in pencil on reverse l.l.: 350-
Accession Number
PH70-1976
Department
International Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Bowness Family Foundation