On Reading

by André Kertész, Robert Gurbo (Introduction)

This classic―both playful and poetic―is reissued with striking new duotone reproductions. André Kertész (1894-1985) was one of the most inventive, influential, and prolific photographers in the medium's history. This small volume, first published in 1971, became one of his signature works. Taken between 1920 and 1970, these photographs capture people reading in many parts of the world. Readers in every conceivable place―on rooftops, in public parks, on crowded streets, waiting in the wings of the school play―are caught in a deeply personal, yet universal, moment. Kertész's images celebrate the absorptive power and pleasure of this solitary activity and speak to readers everywhere. Fans of photography and literature alike will welcome this reissue of this classic work that has long been out of print. 68 duotone photographs

Genres: Photography, Art, Books About Books, Nonfiction, Art and Photography, Picture Books, Graphic Novels

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

André Kertész (French: [kɛʁtɛs]; 2 July 1894 – 28 September 1985), born Kertész Andor, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and the photo essay. In the early years of his career, his then-unorthodox camera angles and style prevented his work from gaining wider recognition. Kertész never felt that he had gained the worldwide recognition he deserved. Today he is considered one of the seminal figures of photojournalism.[

Reviews

[Amirsaman]

کتاب‌خوان برای کتاب‌خواندن نیست که کتاب می‌خواند. کتاب نه یک شیء مقدس است که باید با آیین خاصی خواندش، که مثل سرنگ، در گوشه‌ی هر خرابه‌ای که پیش آمد تزریق می‌گردد.
بنابراین کتاب‌خوان، بیش از آن‌که بدنبال جایی برای خواندن باشد، بدنبال خواندن است. کتاب‌خوان راه فراری ندارد، مجبور است به خواندن. کتاب‌خوان شب‌ها قبل از خواب برای بیماری‌اش گریه می‌کند. کتاب‌خوان نمی‌تواند لحظه‌ای را بدون کتاب‌هایش در عالمْ سِیر کند. بعد از جااندازیِ دست و پا، قبل از امتحان، حین ناهار، در قطار، روی چمن‌های مرطوب یا کنار پاره‌آهن‌های زنگ‌زده.
کتاب‌خوانْ درون‌گرا نیست. کتاب‌خوان دوست دارد حرف بزند، ولی حرف‌ها برایش ارضاکننده نیستند. کسی برای کتاب‌خوان کافی نیست. حتا کتاب‌ها هم برای کتاب‌خوان کافی نیستند، و بنابراین او بدنبال کتابِ حقیقی همیشه در جستجو است.
کتاب برای کتاب‌خوان مقدس نیست. او با بی‌رحمی با کتاب‌ها برخورد می‌کند. در کنارشان حاشیه می‌نویسد و نویسنده را به سخره می‌گیرد. دور کلمات خط می‌کشد و معانی‌شان را در دانشنامه‌ها پیدا می‌کند و برمی‌گردد و باز نقد می‌کند. همه‌ی کتاب‌ها در نظر کتاب‌خوان واجد نقصی هستند که بی‌آن معنای خود را از دست می‌دهند. هر کتابی تمایل به باز شدن دارد، و هر کتاب گشوده‌ای تمایل به بسته‌شدن.
کتاب‌خوانْ کتاب‌هایش را با خود به همه‌جا می‌برد. کتاب‌خوانْ جاسوس دنیای کتاب‌ها است؛ کتاب‌ها را با دیوار هر ساختمانی آشنا می‌کند، با هوای هر سرزمینی و با خاک هر کشوری. کتاب‌خوان برای کتاب‌هایش زندگی نمی‌کند. کتاب‌خوان بدون کتاب‌هایش زندگی نمی‌کند.

تقدیم به رویا

[Violeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely little book of photographs by André Kertész, one of the best photographers of the 20th century. They capture that special bubble readers create for themselves, the mental space that allows them a certain distance from their environment while still remaining part of it. Here, there and nowhere – these photos are a tribute to the process that makes this small miracle happen wherever reading material exists.

Happy reading in 2023, everyone!


Esztergom, Hungary, 1915


Washington Square, NYC, May 27, 1970


Carnival, Paris, 1926


Paris, 1928


Académie Française, Paris 1929


Fourth Avenue, NYC, June 4, 1959


Washington Square, NYC, April 18, 1969


Boca, Buenos Aires, July 18, 1962


Greenwich Village, NYC, June 8, 1963


Paris, 1928

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure! No words - just dozens of wonderful André Kertész photographs of people of all ages and from all walks of life reading - in public and in the privacy of their homes, photographs of paintings showing people reading, photographs of books in homes with painted or sculpted figures looking down at the books, even a couple of photographs of animals and insects "reading" books.

Anyone who truly loves to read should have a copy of On Reading to look at and treasure.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest number of books I own is by Andre Kertesz (1894-1985). Kertesz took many photographs of village people, soldiers and animals in his home country of Hungary before moving to Paris in 1925. There he documented not only people but buildings and public scenes. He became known for his unorthodox angles and subject matter.


Being Jewish, he left Europe with the onset of WWII and immigrated to the United States. He and his wife spent their remaining years in New York city where he photographed the buildings and city life.


Naturally, my favorite book of his is a collection of his photos of people reading. Kertesz took photos of people anyway and everywhere with one thing in common: reading.

People on roof tops, in dressing rooms in costume, in Central Park in NYC, in Paris, in wealthy houses with personal, massive libraries; and street urchins huddled together reading a book together.

I love how he captures these intimate moments in time. Reading is a personal experience, sometimes shared when reading to others, but mostly we read to ourselves and yet we are not alone because we are reading the minds of other people, some alive, some long dead. It's the closest we have to time travel.

[La Central · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Los personajes que captura el fotógrafo André Kertész están tumbados, reclinados, de pie, acostados, apoyados, estirados, sentados… si observamos con más detalle, también parecen concentrados, absortos, enajenados, abstraídos, asombrados, cautivados, enfrascados, ensimismados… y si apuramos el ejercicio y contextualizamos la obra del fotógrafo bajo la doble influencia del dadaísmo y el periodismo documental, la cámara de Kertész capta a los lectores «que están allí, leyendo frente a nuestros ojos, pero también (sospechamos) ejecutando de soslayo actividades secretas, inauditas, peligrosas, exactamente al borde de lo que nuestra razón juzga verdadero».

André Kertész (Budapest, 1894 - Nueva York, 1985), es uno de los fotógrafos más prestigiosos de la historia. A lo largo de su carrera, y posiblemente bajo la influencia del oficio libresco de su padre, fue recopilando cientos de imágenes de personas entregadas a la lectura. Esta serie de momentos íntimos, donde aparecen lectores de todo el mundo absortos leyendo sin apenas percatarse de lo que pasa alrededor, se reunió en el libro On Reading, publicado en 1971 en Nueva York por la Editorial Grossman.

Ahora, por primera vez, las editoriales Periférica y Errata Naturae lo publican en español, lo prologa Alberto Manguel, quien nos recuerda que la imagen de una persona que lee es, como toda imagen, inocente en si misma, y simbólicamente el retrato de un lector siempre nos ha llevado a pensar en lo hogareño, lo cotidiano. Las imágenes de Kertész, sin embargo, dan un giro insólito, cada una de las situaciones en las que se encuentran los lectores «capturados» tienen algo de insólito, distinto e inédito." Núria Solsona

[Patricia Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

si la fotografía y la lectura son, por separado, mi refugio, unidas no podían ser más que una sensación muy similar a la de haber encontrado un hueco para mí en el mundo. Ese hueco está, concretamente, justo donde André supo inmortalizarlo en este libro. Entre las páginas y el visor, entre la palabra y los ojos.

- especial mención a una fotografía que me ha robado el corazón : La anciana que en sus últimas horas de vida decidió morir leyendo 💔 -

[Jessie Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

God bless Andre Kertesz for these photographs. I found more than a few that resonated profoundly.
If you love books please seek this one out. It's well worth your time-no words for how much I love this book. Funny enough, I found it in a cardboard box of unwanted books sitting outside of my library. Fortune was on my side that day. :-)

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I blush to add this to my list as the only words in the whole book appear on the jacket, but it is ABOUT reading!

Great collection of Kertesz B+W prints from across the world on the theme of reading. Mostly the shots are of people, but there are also some very clever set pieces to change the mood.

Check it out, it'll make you feel better - and not a Kindle to be seen anywhere, awesome.

[Rogue Male · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collects candid photos from 1915 to 1970 of people reading, usually in public, usually alone, on rooftops, park benches, front lawns and stoops, holding hardbacks, newspapers and magazines. Charming and impressive in its span of years and focus. I suppose today half the people would be on their phones or holding e-readers with quilted backs.

[PABLO ANTONETTI · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro que los amantes de la fotografía de calle o espontanea deben tener en su biblioteca. Kertèsz recopila a lo largo de 40 años imágenes de gente leyendo en distintos ámbitos. Esto nos lleva a realizar disimiles interpretaciones que van desde las más simples e inocentes, hasta las más controvertidas con algún mensaje político subliminal. No se lo pierdan!

[Aylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just reading and photography. It’s a perfect book by itself.

[Malvina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful photo essay on reading from all over the world, taken between 1915 and 1970. Hard to pick a favourite, they were all wonderful. I don't think we'll ever get as many photos like this again - for example a park where everyone is lazing back and reading books - because of the advent of the smart phone changing the culture. It makes this book even more of a treasure.

[Ricardo Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un gran libro de fotografía. Además, un bello homenaje al libro, y al acto de leer. Y, por supuesto, a todos los lectores del mundo.

[Liliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi reseña de Leer de André Kertész en Criticismo: http://www.criticismo.com/leer-2/

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was most beautiful and inspirational book.
I love how author manage to catch most ordinary and at the same time special moments of life-reading experience. His work is truly art.

[Chris Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first you think this is rather kitschy or gimmicky. But once experienced you feel the skill of Kertesz in honoring and revering this rather sacred activity of reading. Heads bowed as if in prayer, the people are still, in repose, with ideas flying around inside their heads-- a magical disconnect between their actions and their thoughts.

One can't help but look at these images and realize that today they would all be holding cell phones.

Kertesz has a beautiful ability to compose without looking too perfect; to capture someone's personal moment and make they sympathetic and beautiful without color, special lighting, digital effects, or the use of models and props. The biggest compliment I can give is that in "reading" this book (there is no text), it makes me want to be one of these people in this book.

A fun side note is the intentional layout of the images. Often you are confronted with two images on either page and can't help but observe the contrasts and comparisons. They are too rich to believe it is happenstance. The adorned priest reading from an antique oversized tome and the street person reading a newspaper pulled out of the trash, for example, or starting the book with an image of a book in his own home.

[Ferris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of photographs taken by Hungarian photographer, Andre Kertesz, depicts people all over the world, reading. Somehow the photographer was able to repeatedly capture the intense absorption one experiences when reading, particularly something really, really fascinating. There are photos of all ages, genders, & walks of life, yet the feeling evoked is universal to readers! Absolutely wonderful!

[Liz Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book was first published in 1971 and reissued in 2008. It includes photographs taken all over the world, between 1915 and 1970, of people (and a few other animals) reading in a whole range of settings. The photographs are evocative, poignant, thoughtful--all of them remind the viewer of the power of the written word to soothe, excite, and enrapture.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, thought-provoking images of reading. The ones where people are utterly absorbed in the printed word are the ones that stir me the most - they're incredible.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book in theory, but the photographs did not stir anything in me.

[Nicolás Guasaquillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

El ejercicio íntimo de leer.

[dv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kertesz poetico e sempre efficace nell'isolare / contestualizzare il paradosso di solitudine e apertura che l'atto del leggere porta con sé.

[Anna R. Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a book full of photos of people reading, what more could I want when it's 5am and I can't sleep?

[chaura paillacar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preciós, em vull emmarcar cada foto. Em pregunto si actualment la gent que llegeix estaria amb el mòbil.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifty-eight pages of black-and-white photographs of people caught in the act of reading books and newspapers from 1915 to 1970, from Paris to New York City. Fun and quick.

A meditation on reading, as mentioned by Sven Birkerts in his fine collection of essays, Changing the Subject: Essays on the Mediated Self, published fall 2015.

On Reading celebrates a bygone era. In each photograph today, the mind can easily replace many of the books and newspapers with phones and tablets, and maybe a few books.

[TinHouseBooks]

Heather Hartley (Paris Editor, Tin House Magazine): Hungarian photographer André Kertész said that, “Seeing is not enough, you have to feel what you photograph,” and the stunning book of his black and white photographs, On Reading, attests to his sensitivity to and keen insight into his subjects: people reading in public places and sometimes private rooms. Daily life is captured in its intimacy, humanity and grit–from Paris to parks, from Tokyo to the tops of garbage bins and lots of places in between, made beautiful by Kertész.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gift to me - and what a wonderful gift it was. I had never even heard of Andre Kertesz before, let alone studied his amazing photographs. This was given to me because the giver knew I love to read. Without any words, it portrays through photos people all over the world, in all kinds of places and positions, READING, READING, READING.
A love book.
I'll look at this often.
It takes me places.

[Alberto Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una pequeña joya , el libro nos muestra las fotografías que realizó el fotógrafo André Kertész a lo largo de su vida a lectores de toda clase en diferentes lugares del planeta, desde las bibliotecas mas opulentas hasta las personas mas humildes que leen en la calle. Me ha sorprendido descubrir algunas fotos que ya conocía por haber sido usadas por editoriales para portadas como la que cierra el libro. Muy interesante.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like 3.5. I saw the exhibit of these photos which toured around to various American museums. The impact was much better in that form, but these are still interesting to look at. The introduction has a neat story about how André Kertész would carry a pencil around and tone down the highlights of some of the photos in the first edition of this book when he was asked to sign it.