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ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ, (American, b. Hungary, 1894-1985), NOTRE-DAME AT NIGHT, PARIS, signed "A. Kertész"...
Currency:USD
Category:Everything Else / Other
Start Price:NA
Estimated At:80,000.00 - 120,000.00 USD
NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Apr 24 @ 19:00UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT
ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ
(American, b. Hungary, 1894-1985)
NOTRE-DAME AT NIGHT, PARIS
signed "A. Kertész" and inscribed "Paris" in pencil below
image on mount
gelatin silver print on carte-postale mounted on original vellum
27/8 x 31/4 in. (7.3 x 8.3 cm)
mount: 149/16 x 103/4 in. (37 x 27.3 cm)
1925
ESTIMATE: $80,000-120,000
<p>PROVENANCE
Private Collection
<p>LITERATURE
André Kertész, DAY OF PARIS, New York, J.J. Augustin, 1945, pp. 144-145 (illustrated)
André Kertész, J'AIME PARIS, PHOTOGRAPHS SINCE THE TWENTIES, New York, Grossman, 1974, p. 154 (variant cropping with less image in the foreground)
Sandra S. Phillips, David Travis and Weston J. Naef, ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ: OF PARIS AND NEW YORK, chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago with Thames & Hudson, New York, 1985, p. 129, cat. no. 3 (illustrated)
ANDRE KERTESZ: A PORTRAIT AT 90, Tokyo, Pacific Press Service, 1985, cat. no. 28 (illustrated)
STRANGER TO PARIS, Introduction by Robert Enright, Toronto, Jane Corkin Gallery, 1992, p. 61 (illustrated)
Fuminori Yokoe, THE PARIS OF ATGET, MAN RAY AND BRASSAÏ, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1992, pl. 105 (illustrated)
André Kertész made this photograph shortly after his arrival in Paris while walking home late one night from the Café du Dôme. A feeling of nocturnal solitude is certainly conveyed by the lighting and the intimate size of this contact print. What few people may have been around at that time of night were not recorded during the 30-minute exposure, leaving nothing to distract from the structure. Today, in the space directly in front of the church, a bronze plaque is set into the pavement. All of the road signs in France that measure distances from Paris originate from this spot. Thus, it is not only the center of Paris, but also the center of the entire country. The photograph appears to represent the core of Kertész's creative universe.
Regardless of its indeterminate meaning, this photograph offers a radical pictorial composition for its time. One must peer into the central dark area, bordered by the white glare of street lamps on either side. A larger print from this negative was included in Kertesz's important 1927 exhibition at the Au Sacre du Printemps gallery, which launched Kertesz's career in Paris.
This contact print is made on carte-postale paper, which was made for printing one's own postcards. Markings for an address and postage stamp were printed on the verso. It was practical for Kertész to make contact prints on this type of paper because an enlarger was not necessary. Moreover, he could easily affix a stamp and mail his work to family and friends back in his native Hungary. In addition Kertész evidently appreciated this paper for its soft, warm tonality. This print is from a portfolio of 21 early carte-postale prints that Kertész mounted on a larger stiff vellum paper, and then signed. This portfolio was discovered after Kertesz's death, tucked into one of his bookshelves. Carte-postale prints on signed vellum mounts are extremely rare.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Wednesday April 16 - Sunday April 23
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