At the origin of distortion

Perception of the body can be blurred. Various contemporary photographers express this concept through elaborate processes of distortion. We investigate the origin of this language in the seminal work of André Kertész.

Hungarian photographer Kertész (1894 – 1985), a master of photojournalism in the 1900s, creates the series “Distortions” on commission in 1933. It includes 200 female nudes that are the result of optical experiments with reflections and mirrors.

His interest in distortions begins in 1917, when he photographs a swimmer underwater.

In 1920 he uses the concept for the cover of Vu magazine, but it isn’t until 1939 that a critic attempts to define the genre in the article "Paradox of a Distortionist" on the periodical Minicam, which establishes Kertész as a recognized master.

Kertész’s nudes can be interpreted in various ways. As female bodies that sublimate beauty and harmonic form. Or as an ironic commentary on the predominant representation of women as sexual objects.

In 1984, a year before his death, the photographer puts together a last series of distortions in Paris, shot inside an empty room that is transformed into an amusement park hall of mirrors.

A technique that to this day poses questions regarding the art of photography, in the sense Kertész literally intends it as “writing with light”.



Photos ©  André Kertész