André Kertész

signed twice and dated '1927' in pencil and with the photographer's '75 Boulevard Montparnasse, Paris 6' studio and copyright stamps on the reverse, framed, a National Gallery of Art exhibition label on the reverse, 1926

Estate of the photographer

Houk Friedman Gallery, New York

Collection of Michael H. Glicker

Christie's New York, 9 October 1997, Sale 8748, Lot 72

Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, André Kertész, February - May 2005, and traveling to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June - September 2005

Sarah Greenough, Robert Gurbo, and Sarah Kennel, André Kertész (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 2005), pl. 53 (this print)

Vu, 18 April 1928, No. 5, p. 125

Sandra S. Phillips, David Travis, and Weston J. Naef, André Kertész: Of Paris and New York (The Art Institute of Chicago and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985), p. 138

Nicolas Ducrot, ed., André Kertész: Sixty Years of Photography, 1912-1972 (New York, 1972), p. 121

André Kertész: Diary of Light, 1912-1985 (Aperture and The International Center of Photography, 1986), pl. 73

Michel Frizot and Annie-Laure Wanaverbecq, André Kertész (Paris: Jeu de Paume, 2010), p. 80

This photograph shows the Roth Quartet, founded by Czech-born, Budapest-educated violinist Feri Róth.  When Kertész was asked by Róth to photograph the quartet for publicity purposes, the photographer used the session as an opportunity to experiment with unconventional cropping.  In the present photograph, Kertész has tightened the frame to a narrow rectangle that focuses upon the musical score and the musicians’ hands and instruments. His radical cropping and careful placement of elements within this narrow frame accentuate the rhythmic musicality of the image.