Accession Number2009/2.14
TitleThree Eyes
Artist(s)André KertészArtist NationalityAmerican (North American)Object Creation Date1979Medium & Supportcibachrome print on paperDimensions 3 15/16 in x 3 1/8 in (10 cm x 7.94 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. Seymour and Barbara K. AdelsonLabel copyIn his 1979 series
From My window, Andre Kertesz used the windowsill in his New York City apartment as a ready-made site for staging intriguing still lifes. In these two images, ordinary objects are animated by the colorful highlights and shadows cast by light coming through the glass. Kertesz used a Polaroid SX-70 camera to make these small-format instant photographs, which allowed him to react to subtle changes in light and color in the moment.
The series was made in the home he shared for decades with his late wife, Rebecca, and often evokes memories of their life together.
Two Statues' Shadows reimagines Andre and Rebecca as overlapping glass figurines standing in the photographer's shadow as he makes this solitary, double self-portrait in glass and light.
Three Eyes frames single eyes stacked next to a pair of glasses. Kertesz's emphasis on the acts of looking and seeing seem to be a meditation on the intimate act of composing arrangements of objects once shared with a lost companion.
Subject matterKertész began experimenting with a Polaroid SX-70 camera in the late 1970s, using the instant camera to photograph objects in his apartment in New York. This slightly surreal photograph depicts a still-life arrangement, created from three small sculptures, one cube and two spheres, each printed with an image of an eye. The cube is punctuated with a pair of spectacles, positioned so that one of the eyes can peer through them. At the encouragement of gallery owner Peter MacGill, Kertész published a book of these photographs entitled "From My Window" in 1981.
Physical DescriptionSquare-format photograph of three small sculptures with eyes printed on them organized in a stack, alongside a pair of spectacles.
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Keywords
cubes (geometric figures)
eyeglasses
eyes (animal components)
instant cameras
sculpture groups
spheres (geometric figures)
still lifes