Hungarian born 1884 Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1884, Andre Kertesz left there in 1912 to settle in Paris, France, where he began his study of photography. As his interests broadened, he chose to devote himself solely to making photographs and sought to create a visual diary of his life. Using a small format 35mm Leica camera, he began to work on a freelance basis. Inspired by Picasso, Calder, Mondrian and other artists of the "Paris Elite Group," Kertesz started work on a series of nude distortion studies. Kertesz visited New York in 1937 with hopes of selling his photography. After meeting with success at Conde Nast Publishing, he became known as the master of the unique "vantage point" perspective. He continued to live and work in New York until his death in 1985. Author John Szarkowski said in looking at photographs of Ketresz's work: "...in addition to this splendid and original quality of formal invention there is in the work of Kertesz another quality less easily analyzed, but surely no less important. It is a sense of the sweetness of life, a free and childlike pleasure in the beauty of the world and the preciousness of sight." The photographs of Andre Kertesz can be found in several collections: the Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Harvard University, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, Wellesley College Museum and Pompidou Center to name a few.