“In the digital age that surrounds us, where people read from computer screens, cell phones, and electronic books of one sort or another, we sometimes forget that reading in the past always took place from a book, a newspaper, or a journal,” said Linda Benedict-Jones, curator of photography at Carnegie Museum of Art and organizer of the Pittsburgh presentation of On Reading. “When André Kertész made these images, he was celebrating the love affair that people have with the written word as it exists within the soft pages of a book; little did he know how that would change. Not only is this exhibition fascinating for that reason, but it also engages us in his unique vision, a way of seeing and organizing visual information within a photographic rectangle. His mark is unmistakable in these photographs.”

The images were made by Kertész during a 50-year period in Hungary, Argentina, Japan, France, and the United States. Kertész captured individuals immersed in the act of reading in a variety of settings, both public and private—in parks, cafés, and libraries; on rooftops, street corners, and trains; and standing at book kiosks or sitting backstage. Spanning the decades, from 1920s Paris to 1970s New York, the photographs depict a range of subjects, from Trappist monks to urban sunbathers, from commuters on a train to a young boy reading comics on a discarded pile of newspapers. Kertész’s wit and skill in composing images is immediately evident, with numerous photographs featuring playful juxtapositions of the readers and the objects, architecture, and even animals around them. A cow appears to read over the shoulder of a man engrossed in his newspaper. A clerk in an antique store reads cross-legged while a nearby sculpture mirrors his pose almost exactly. A beetle is paused on a Voltaire novel, as if reading the French text. In many images, the readers seem unaware that Kertész has photographed them in a moment of concentration and escape.

Through these poetic, and at times humorous, studies, Kertész imbues the solitary activity of reading with humanistic touches.

About Kertész

André Kertész (American, born Austria-Hungary, 1894–1985) began taking photographs in Budapest in 1912. After being drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, he volunteered for service at the Polish and Russian fronts. Wounded in 1915, he returned to Budapest before moving to Paris in 1925. Kertész circulated among avant-garde literary and artistic groups and embraced the culture of Paris between the world wars. He also participated in the New Vision movement, based on the speed of the new portable Leica camera and on German progressive artist László Moholy-Nagy’s call for a new visual literacy based on photography. With the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, many from the Parisian avant-garde took their discoveries to America. In 1936, Kertész moved with his wife, Elisabeth, to New York, where he worked as an artist and commercial photographer for the rest of his life. He received little recognition for his contributions until shortly before his death at age 90, but he had an undeniable influence on scores of photographers, including Lisette Model, Berenice Abbott, Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, and Lee Friedlander, among many others.

Programs

“Three Poems by…” Poetry Discussion Group

Thursday, November 11, 7:30–9 p.m.

Cosponsored by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Join Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s “3 Poems by…” Poetry Discussion Group for a special session that explores three poems about or inspired by the exhibition André Kertész: On Reading. Begin with a 15-minute gallery talk highlighting visual and literary connections, then converse with fellow readers and library staff in a casual museum setting. Discussions are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged, but not required. To register, e-mail newandfeatured@carnegielibrary.org or call 412.622.3151. Those who register will receive the poems in advance.

“Bound Together” Book Club

Thursday, December 2, 6:30–7:45 p.m.

Meet in the Museum of Art lobby; Free

Space is limited; call 412.622.3288 to register.

This collaborative program of Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh presents a 15-minute gallery talk highlighting visual and literary connections followed by a book discussion with fellow readers and library staff. Most books are available at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The December book selection is Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler,” based on the exhibition André Kertész: On Reading.

The catalogue, Andre Kertész: On Reading, will be for sale in the museum’s gift shop for $29.95.

Support

André Kertész: On Reading is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago. The exhibition tour is organized by Curatorial Assistance, Inc., Pasadena, California. The presentation of this exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Art is made possible by the support of The William T. Hillman Fund for Photography. General operating support for Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The films in this program highlight the junction-disjunction between art and life, and plumb the divide between reality and its distortion in myth, desire, and individual perception. Some even turn the camera on itself, reflecting on the very process of filmmaking.

George Kuchar, Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966, 15 min.) and I an Actress (1976, 8:30 min.)
Roger Jacoby, Kunst Life I–III, (1976, 30 min.)
Hollis Frampton, Nostalgia (1971, 38 min.)
Stephanie Beroes, Valley Fever (1979, 20 min.)

This program brings together works that focus on the irrational, ambivalent, and chaotic aspects of everyday experience and pop-culture phenomena. Because each in its own way interrogates and threatens the order imposed on society by the moral and legal establishment, several of these films were—and remain—controversial milestones.

Kenneth Anger, Scorpio Rising (1963, 30 min.) and Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965, 3:30 min.)
Bruce Conner, Cosmic Ray (1962, 4 min.)
Carolee Schneemann, Fuses (1964–1967, 22 min.)
Ed Emshwiller, Relativity (1966, 40 min.)