Nature morte, Chez Mondrian, 1926

Similar to Chez Mondrian in its quietude, Nature morte, Chez Mondrian strikes one immediately as both still life and portrait study. Stunningly reductivist in nature, the gathered objects are simplified and united by the harmony of their forms. These are offset by the plain white field on which they rest, reminiscent of Mondrian's lozenge paintings from the same period.

Kertész has managed to truly abstract the glasses, the pipe and bowl from their context. They are metonymic devices, parts of a sum called into duty to represent the whole equation. When viewed with Chez Mondrian and Mondrian's Studio, Kertész clearly but quietly displays the austerity with which the artist lived.

Nature morte, Chez Mondrian heralds Kertész's fully developed vision, affording the photographer an approach he relied upon throughout his career, from portraiture to street scenes. For example, his portraits of pianist Paul Arma from 1928 (see: Phillips, et al., Of Paris and New York, cat. nos. 59-62, pp. 156-7) and the Constructivist inspired Rooftops and Chimneys and Telephone Wires all incorporate a related tactic in formalist abstraction. Like Man Ray's autobiographical Rayographs (see illustration below), Kertész distills personal meaning in the frank description of objects, imbuing them with the personality of their owner and thus extending the definition of portraiture.

This print was originally owned by the sculptor Etienne Béothy, one from a circle of Hungarian expatriates in Paris in the 1920s and a close friend of the photographer. Kertész's famous image Satiric Dancer was made in Béothy’s studio.
Vintage prints of this image are rare; fewer than five have ever come to auction.