"Melancholic Tulip"

gelatin silver print

signed and dated (pencil) on verso

In 1936, Kertész moved with his wife, Elizabeth, to New York. He made the  photograph Melancholic Tulip just three years after their arrival. Using distortion mirrors, a technique he had experimented with in Paris, he created it as a self-portrait representative of his disillusionment over a stalled photographic career and difficult transition to life in America. Although he only intended to stay in the U.S. for a short time, the outbreak of World War II made his return to Paris impossible.  It was a difficult period for the artist, and he had problems making professional connections in New York.
(Nancy Barr, Photography – A Detroit Institute of Arts Blog, 2010)

More in the picture of the month June 2019