Jacques Henri Lartigue – André Kertész. La grande fotografia del Novecento
Silvana Editoriale 2024
Italian and English translation of the exhibition catalogue by Scriptum
From 23 November 2024 to 6 April 2025 Riccione will host the first Italian exhibition on two masters of world photography: the French Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) and the Hungarian André Kertész (1894-1985). Born in the same year, they could have met in Paris between the wars, instead they only met in 1973 in New York.
Both exhibited at MoMA – Lartigue in 1963 and Kertész in 1964 – wanted by John Szarkowski, the great director of the Department of Photography. They were described respectively as ‘primitive amateurs’ and ‘inventors of photojournalism.’ Their exhibitions marked a fundamental turning point for modern photography.
Considered a master of the snapshot, Lartigue favoured immediacy and carefree spontaneity, while Kertész, known for his reflective photography, explored depth (Henry Cartier Bresson said of him: ‘whatever we do, Kertész did it first’).