ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894–1985) Lot n° 24

ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894-1985) | 'Satiric Dancer', Paris 1926 Image Size: 34,8 x 27,4 cm English: Gelatin silver print, printed in the early 1980s on double-weight semi-matte paper 35,3 x 28 cm, in excellent condition. Signed, titled and dated "Paris 1926" in pencil and annotated "MAK 0228.Y" by an unknown hand in pencil on the reverse. PROVENANCE Acquired by the current owner from Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. After a decade as a young photographer in his native Hungary, Kertész moved to Paris in 1925. It was here that he took his famous photograph of the dancer Magda Förstner in the Montparnasse studio of the sculptor Beöthy, also from Hungary. The contorted pose of Magda in a short halter dress on the sofa between two of his sculptures became an icon of modern photography. The steep camera angle and the chosen lens enhance the whimsical effect of the picture, which was published in 1927 by the Berlin leisure magazine "Die Dame" to illustrate a parable about marital infidelity. After many publications, the picture received its current title in the 1960s. German: Silver gelatin print, printed in the early 1980s on semi-matte "double-weight" paper 35.3 x 28 cm, in excellent condition. Signed, titled and dated "Paris 1926" in pencil on the reverse and inscribed "MAK 0228.Y" in pencil by an unknown hand. PROVENANCE Acquired by the current owner from Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. After a decade as a young photographer in his native Hungary, Kertész moved to Paris in 1925. It was here that he took his now-famous photograph of the dancer Magda Förstner at the Montparnasse studio of his compatriot and sculptor Beöthy. The contorted pose of Magda in a short halter dress on the sofa between two of his sculptures became an icon of modern photography. The steep angle of the flash and the chosen optics enhance the whimsical effect of the image, which was published in 1927 by the Berlin leisure magazine "Die Dame" to illustrate a parable about marital infidelity. After many publications, the picture received its current title in the 1960s.