Gallery Visit: Andre Kertesz: On Reading, Photographers Gallery, London

I was delighted to be able to take in this visit to the Photographers gallery in London this July. Firstly I had never been there and I have long been fascinated with Andre Kertesz since I came across his work when researching for the level 1 course'Intro to Digital Photography'. At that time I was fascinated by his images of Mondrian's Pipe and Glasses and The Fork. I also love seeing in real life original prints form years gone by that look as though they were printed yesterday. The more I get into photography the more I love black and white images and have already begun experimenting with them again. It is many years since I dabbled in traditional 'wet photography'.

As a young man Andre Kertesz found a photographic manual in an attic and decided to become a photographer. In 1914 he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. One year later he began to work seriously as a photographer. He was wounded and for a year was paralized. All of his negatives were destroyed in 1918 and he returned to work in the stock market. Undeterred , however, he persevered with photography and had his own solo exhibition in 1927.

On reading is a celebration of of the absorptive power and pleasure of reading. Over the course of his career Kertesz captured readers of all ages in various locations - on balconies, in parks, on crowded streets, in libraries - creating a poetic study of this solitary but also shared human activity.

The earliest photograph in the exhibition taken in Hungary in 1915, shows three boys huddled together on a street absorbed in a book balanced on their knees.
I loved looking at this image and trying to take myself back to that 1915 street. Were the boys reading or looking at pictures I wonder.





In another image, a man examines a book closely with a magnifying glass on 'Book Row' - a street with a succession of second hand bookshops in 1950s New York.
What a superb photograph - the man was totally absorbed in choosing his book. I wonder if he was looking for something in particular. I wonder if the book shops are still there fifty years later or is it just the photograph that has survived.



Kertesz's characteristic use of high vantage points often shows people reading on rooftops, seeking out a quiet space to enjoy a private moment, far away from the city's daily life below.
I like this photograph for the fact that the subject is a very small part of the whole image, something that may be useful for Exercise 19: A single figure small. I also like the fact that the fact that the subject is reading is implicit - we cannot see the book, a technique I employed when photographing my wife for assignment 1.





Another image taken from a high vantage point and also when the subject is small in the frame.











I love this image of the girl reading where the focus is on the book rather than the person. Other photographs also celebrate the book as object - through paintings, still life compositions and photographs of bookshelves and library interiors.









A again I like this image because the subject plays such a tiny part in it yet is obviously absorbed in a book.











I think that this photograph shows great sense of humour - a photograph of a painting of a person reading!








at a point in history when digital technology appears to be rendering the printed page obsolete, Ketesz's 'On Reading' is a timely reminder of the impact of the book and the culture of reading. On a personal note I hope that we never reach the stage where the book becomes obsolete. A few years ago a local secondary school 'got rid' of its library and replaced it with an IT suite. Thankfully the decision has since been reversed. Books are one of the great joys of life.

This is a wonderful exhibiton and I shall treasure Kertesz's book 'on Reading'. I love the rich black and white images, the pleasing compositions and the stories that each image tells.