1985 Infinity Award: Master of Photography

André Kertész has been hailed as one of the most important photographers of the 20th century. Born in Budapest, he received his first camera in 1912 and immediately began to make intimate portraits of family and friends, studies of the Hungarian countryside, and scenes of daily life behind the battle lines of World War I. He moved to Paris in 1925 and established a successful career as a photojournalist. In 1936, Kertész relocated to New York in order to further his career. Captivated by the rich visual spectacle of the city and awed by its scale, he used the camera to record both his fascination with, and sense of alienation from, his new surroundings. The images attest to a complicated personal history borne through the political upheavals of two wars and life in three countries.