Satiric Dancer

André Kertész staged this photograph of Hungarian dancer and cabaret performer Magda Förstner in the Paris studio of fellow Hungarian emigré and sculptor István Beöthy. Recounting the session, Kertész recalled saying to his model, “‘Do something with the spirit of the studio corner,’ and she started to move on the sofa. She just made a movement. I took only two photographs… People in motion are wonderful to photograph. No need to shoot a hundred rolls like people do today. It means catching the right moment. The moment when something changes into something else.”