PORTLAND – The Portland Museum of Art will showcase images by André Kertész, one of the world’s most significant and influential photographers, Aug. 30 through Nov. 16.

“André Kertész: On Reading” is a collection of 104 black-and-white photographs that highlight Kertész’s signature style of the visual poetry in everyday life. The photographs were taken during a 50-year period, beginning in 1925.

By capturing individuals immersed in the act of reading in a variety of settings – parks, cafés, libraries, rooftops, backstage, street corners, trains and bookstands – Kertész uses the activity of reading as a constant motif for his narrative, which weaves in and out of public and private spaces. These observations form an engaging and often amusing study of the universal and captivating power of reading.

Born in Hungary in 1894, Kertész’s journey as a photographer began in 1912, just before being drafted into the army. He returned to Budapest in 1915 and moved to Paris in 1925. It was there, among literary and avant-garde artistic circles, that his style of geometric composition and playful observation, emerged. He moved to New York in 1936 and lived there until his death in 1985.


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