Vman 35: A Hungarian Walked Into My Life
Photography: Bruce Weber
"When Bertold Zahoran walked into my studio, we started talking about his native city of Budapest. I asked him if he had ever heard of the photographer André Kertész. Of course he hadn't, because he's so young and his life before this seemed to be wrapped up in basketball. As we sipped coffee, I told him about when I met Mr. Kertész a long time ago in his Lower 5th Avenue apartment, which overlooked a snowy Washington Square Park. I told Mr. Kertész that afternoon how discovering the early photographs he took of his brother Jeno running along and diving into the Danube made me want to take pictures for the rest of my life, even though I didn't own a camera. Kertész talked about his early days, how as a young Jewish man he was forced to leave Europe when the Nazis came to power and found his new home in America. But when he arrived, no one would give him an assignment- his reputation suffered when he didn't get commissions. Then as life and luck would have it, someone discovered his old negatives in 'a house in the country' - as I was told to believe- and once again, he was internationally recognized as a great photojournalist. John Szarkowski, then the photography director at MoMA, gave him a solo show. Mr. Kertész was reserved the day I met him, and as the sunlight disappeared and his apartment became dark, he didn't move to turn on the lights. He showed me some of the photographs he had taken of Jeno years before, and asked if I wanted to buy one. I was just starting out then, and I couldn't afford one- they had become very expensive. But I did have the thrill of meeting the man who took them, and knowing that one day I would find my own Hungarian to photograph." -Bruce Weber, New York City 2016
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COAT BURBERRY SHIRT VINTAGE PANTS DIESEL
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PANTS VINTAGE BRIEFS CALVIN KLEIN
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THIS SPREAD, FROM LEFT: BERTOLD WEARS JEANS DIESEL SWIMSUIT VINTAGE RITCH WEARS JEANS ARMANI EXCHANGE SWIMSUIT VINTAGE
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JACKET VINTAGE L.L. BEAN JACKET (UNDERNEATH) ARMANI EXCHANGE HAT VINTAGE