Research - Andre Kertesz & Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier

New York, NY

September 1954

Vivian Maier was an American photographer that came to light after an auction in Chicago. Her immense body of work, unseen for the majority of her life and mostly discovered posthumously, showed a great interest in brief moments and images from her urban surroundings, touching upon destitution, urban development, pedestrian culture, and identity. In her late work, she shifted away from people to found objects, but she always kept interested in her surroundings and everyday subjects that are commonly ignored. Many of her photographs are casual shots of pedestrians and bystanders caught in ephemeral moments. She depicts street scenes with warmth and playfulness that characterizes her work while it maintains a distinctive element of calm, a clarity of composition. She mostly works with black and white images, playing with depth, light, reflections, and movement.  

André Kertész

Mauna Kea, Kamuela, Honolulu,
 No. 4, Aug. 4, 1974

Chez Mondrian, Paris, 1926

André Kertész was one of the most influential photographers of the time for his contributions to photojournalism. He shows a particular interest in everyday things, subjects that are commonly normalized, creating dynamic compositions that have a de-familiarizing and unique effect. Kertész's determines his work around the situation, saying that ''everybody can look, but they don't necessarily see''. He demonstrates en evident empathy to his subjects while he is in constant search of a visually    appealing composition. He plays with radical angles, light, and shadows to create this dynamic and extraordinary effect in these objects that otherwise go regularly unnoticed.

Sources: 

• http://www.vivianmaier.com
• http://www.artnet.com/artists/andré-kertész/
• https://www.artsy.net/artist/andre-kertesz
• https://www.artsy.net/artist/vivian-maier