Live Auction 17878The Face of the Century: Photographs from a Private Collection
ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894–1985)
Lot 138

ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894–1985)

Detail of Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light-Space Modulator), 1922–1930

Closed2 April 2019

Price Realised

USD 15,000

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ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ (1894–1985)
Detail of Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light-Space Modulator), 1922–1930
gelatin silver print
signed later by the artist, signed, titled, dated and inscribed in ink by László Moholy-Nagy, inscribed in unidentified hand, 'Text dictated by Kertész / I made this photograph with my friend / Moholy-Nagy and I had fun with / him playing with light and he told me / "you are a photographer, but I amuse myself with photography"' in pencil, stamped photographer's credit and reproduction limitation (verso)
image/sheet: 8 3/4 x 6 1/2 in. (22.2 x 16.5 cm.)

Kicken Gallery, Berlin;
acquired from the above by the present owner, 1989.

Specialist note

Both Hungarian-born photographers working during the interwar period, Moholy-Nagy and Kertész frequently exhibited together in the late 1920s through the early 1930s. The inscription on the reverse of this photograph—a transcription of a message from Kertész to Moholy-Nagy—reveals a blithesome and admiring relationship between the artists.