Self-Portrait with Jeno Kertész

Art Historical Context

In this intimate *Self-Portrait with Jenoertész*, Hungarian-born photographer André Kert captures a tender moment with his brother Jenő on July 4, 1920. Printed as a tiny gelatin silver print—measuring just 3.9 x 5.2 cm—this snapshot-like image exemplifies Kertész's early experimentation with photography as a personal, poetic medium. Gelatin silver prints, a hallmark of early 20th photography, allowed for sharp detail and rich tonal range from a glass-plate negative, making this work a preserved slice of private life amid post-World War I Europe. Kertész, who would later pioneer modernist photography in Paris during the 1920s, here reveals his roots in candid, humanistic portraiture. The self-portrait underscores his lifelong fascination with everyday intimacy and unconventional framing, techniques that influenced generations of photographers. Shared between brothers—Jenő also pursued photography—it highlights familial bonds fueling artistic innovation. Now housed in the National Gallery of Art through a gift from The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, this diminutive gem invites visitors to appreciate how Kertész transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary, bridging personal memory with universal emotion.

About the Artist

André Kertész · 1894–1985

André Kertész, born Andor Kertész on July 2, 1894, in Budapest, Hungary, to a middle-class Jewish family, initially pursued a conventional path as a clerk at the Budapest Stock Exchange after graduating from the Academy of Commerce in 1912. Self-taught in photography after purchasing his first camera that year, he captured his early poetic visions of Hungarian landscapes and peasant life, includin...