Through more than two hundred vintage photographic prints, this volume presents an in-depth and original window into Brassaï’s oeuvre. Hungarian by birth but Parisian by adoption, Brassaï – the pseudonym of Gyula Halász – was one of the absolute protagonists of 20th-century photography, defined by Henry Miller as a “living eye”. Renowned are his glimpses of a mysterious Paris, illuminated by streetlamps, enveloped in fog or slick with rain, bearing witness to the nocturnal atmosphere that permeated the French capital of the time; but Brassaï travelled all over Europe – including to Italy and Spain – as well as to the United States, creating a photographic trail that bears the imprint of his curiosity and his style. The full chronological range of his production is unveiled here, from his first shots influenced by an affinity with the Surrealist movement to his iconic images of Parisian pleasure-seekers and socialites. Particular attention is given to his images of “graffiti”, captured by Brassaï during his decades-long exploration of the walls of Paris, a mark of his bond with the visual arts and artists such as Jean Dubuffet. Finally, the photographs dedicated to the female nude and to fashion, portraits of artist friends and children, and the small paradoxes and “involuntary sculptures” that reality offered to his gaze and which Brassaï, a creator of images, masterfully grasped in the immediacy of the moment.

Contents

Brassaï, the Eye of Paris
Philippe Ribeyrolles

Brassaï. A discreet eye
Silvia Paoli

Gilberte Brassaï: Testimony
Annick Lionel-Marie

Beginnings
Paris by Day
Paris by Night
Secret Paris
A Paris of “Illusions”
Graffiti
Nude: From Realism to the World of Dreams
Regards de l’artiste
An Artful Gaze
Tender Childhood
Paradoxes

Biography
Gilberte Brassaï

List of Works
Books by Brassaï