Chez Mondrian, Paris, 1926
19 ⅝ × 14 ⅛ inch image
20 × 16 inch sheet
Signed, titled and dated "Paris, 1926" on verso
Printed 1970's or early 1980's
August 21, 2023
When André Kertész moved to Paris from his native Hungary in 1925, he quickly became immersed in the city’s artistic milieu. The Dutch painter Piet Mondrian had been living in Paris since 1918, and during the 1920s he had arrived at the vocabulary of rectilinear abstraction that established him as an artist of immeasurable influence. When Kertész visited Mondrian’s studio in 1926, he sought to capture the way that Mondrian’s home reflected the elegantly reductive quality of his artworks. The spiral staircase, hat, and flower vase introduce graceful curvilinear elements that stand in contrast with the strict use of right angles in Mondrian’s paintings, yet they exemplify Kertész’s frequent use of curving lines when composing his own photographs. As such, this picture represents an elevated conversation between two of the 20th century’s great masters of composition.
This is a rare oversized print of this image, and it comes with an excellent provenance, as it's among a group of works recently consigned to us from a close relative of gallerist Lee Witkin. Witkin Gallery opened in 1969 and was instrumental in situating fine art photography both in the context of the larger art world as well as within as well as within the nascent market for photography.
