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7 February 2011
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Gallery

Fixing the Shadows

Meudon, 1928 Andre Kertesz

Meudon, 1928 © Andre Kertesz Estate

Meudon, a quiet Paris suburb, apart from the occasional high speed train. In 1928, roughly the mid-point between the invention of photography and our own digital age, Andre Kertesz, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, came here and took some pictures.

The photographs he took that day are as unremarkable as Meudon itself. But something about the place must have caught his eye, because a few days later, he came back and turned the ordinary into something extraordinary.

Kertesz's 'Meudon' captures something of the elusive genius of photography. With a photograph we can't help but wonder who the figure in the foreground is, where he has been, what he is carrying and where he is taking it. But Kertesz's photograph has no definitive answers. How can something that reveals so much keep so much to itself?

Extract from 'Fixing the Shadows', Genius of Photography (Wall to Wall)

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Fixing the Shadows



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