Brassaï Art

BRASSAI (Hungarian–French, 1899-1984) Street Fair on the Place d'Italie, 1931 Medium: Sheet-fed Gravure Printing Date: 1970's Printed in the USA Image: 10 1/2 x 8 inches Framed: 14 1/2 x 12 inches Although his real nameis Gyula Halasz, he took the name Brassai from his birthplace, and it means someone who comes from Brasov. He used the name all his adult life and is known throughout the world as Brassai. He was of Hungarian ethnic origins. Brasov in Transylvania has been a part of Romania since the end of the First World War, and that region is still largely populated by ‘Romanain-Hungarians.’ Two of these became well known in the film industry: Bela Lugosi and Gabriel Pascal. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled after the War, most of its territories were distributed amongst a number of nations. It was at this time that Transylvania returned to its earlier identity as part of Romania. Brassai had served in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry for the last year of the War, 1917-1918. After he settled in Paris in 1924, Brassai never returned to his homeland, remaining in exile for the rest of his life. His parents continued to live in Brasov but joined him for long visits in Paris. In 1949 Brassai became a French citizen, having been a stateless person since 1947. He fell in love with a French woman, Gilberte Boyer, and they married in 1948. Gilberte worked closely with her husband as he pursued his photographic career, helping him develop prints in his dark-room, and often writing descriptions of the subjects and personalities. It was also in 1949 that a book with 207 photographs of Picasso’s sculptures was published, with photographs by Brassai. He and Picasso became friends and the latter asked him to photograph his work for this volume. Brassai was a frequent visitor to Picasso’s studio and there he took several portraits of the artist. Brassai has become one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century with collectors all over the world seeking his work. In an era which produced several brilliant and inspired photographers, not least Brassai’s friend Man Ray, he was able to capture a quality of magic in the atmosphere, bordering on the supernatural. Many of his pictures were taken at night or in fog, a frequent condition in Paris in the early part of the twentieth century. Even his day time photographs capture a moment of eerie transition between the mundane and the surreal. He is on the doorstep of another world where time stands still. Light becomes spectral as if it is the breath of an invisible power. Figures seem set in amber. Wet cobbles seem to slither and flow. A Master of capturing the ordinary, Brassai saw things as they were but transmuted the scene through his use of the lens into something outside the ordinary. Brassai was a familiar figure prowling round Paris after dark with his camera and tripod and heavy bag of glass photographic plates. He was sometimes accompanied by Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, or Leon Paul...

Couple au Bal Nègre, rue Blomet (Couple at the Bal Nègre, Rue Blomet), 1932 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 10 1/8 x 8 in. (25.7 x 20.3 cm) sheet: 11 5/8 x 9 1/16 ...

Kiki avec son accordéoniste, au Cabaret des fleurs, à Montparnasse (Kiki with her accordion player at the Cabaret des Fleurs, Rue de Montparnasse), 1932 gelatin silver print on doubl...

L'élection du plus beau modèle, au bal de La Horde (The election of the most beautiful model, Bal de La Horde), 1932 gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 11 9/16 x 9 1/...

La fête foraine, place d'Italie, 1931 ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 10 x 8 1/2 in. (25.4 x 21.6 cm) sheet: 10 x 8 1/2 in. (25.4 x 21.6 cm) framed: 16 ...

Au Monocle, Jeune invertie (Woman Dressed as a Man at Le Monocle, Montparnasse), c. 1932 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 14 3/16 x 10 3/4 in. (36 x 27.3 cm) sheet:...

Groupe joyeux au bal musette de Quatre-Saisons (A happy group at the Bal des Quatre-Saisons), 1932 gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 11 3/4 x 9 in. (29.9 x 22.9 cm) ...

Au Monocle, un couple (Fat Claude and her Girlfriend at Le Monocle), c. 1932 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 13 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (34.9 x 26.4 cm) sheet: 16 x 12 in...

Un couple au bal Magic-City (A couple at the Magic-City Ball). 1931-33 ferrotyped gelain silver print on single weight paper image: 11 1/2 x 8 5/8 inches (29.2 x 21.9 cm) sheet: 11 1...

Le bal des invertis au Magic-City, rue Cognac (The Magic-City drag ball, Rue Cognac), 1932 ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 11 x 9 1/8 in. (27.9 x 23.2 c...

Bal du Magic-City, couples (Bal du Magic-City, Couples) c. 1932 ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 11 x 9 1/8 in. (27.9 x 23.2 cm) sheet: 11 x 9 1/8 in. (2...

Au Monocle, le bar, à gauche: Lulu de Montparnasse (Le Monocle, the Bar, on the left is Lulu de Montparnasse.), 1932-33 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 10 1/8 x 8 ...

Couple fâché au bal des Quatre-Saisons, rue de Lappe (Lover’s Quarrel, Bal des Quatre-Saisons, rue de Lappe, Paris), 1932-33 gelatin silver print image: 13 7/8 x 10 7/8 in. (35.2 x 2...

Chez 'Suzy', la presentation (At Suzy’s, introductions), c. 1932-33 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (29.2 x 22.2 cm) sheet: 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 2...

Armoire à glace dans un hôtel de passe, rue Quincampoix (Mirrored wardrobe in a brothel, Rue Quincampoix), 1932 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 13 3/4 x 10 13/16 i...

La toilette dans un hôtel de passe, rue Quincampoix (Washing up in a brothel, Rue Quincampoix), c. 1932 gelatin silver print on double weight paper image: 7 11/16 x 10 5/8 (19.5 x 27...

Le bal des Quatre-Saisons (Bal des Quatre-Saisons), c. 1932 ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single weight paper image: 8 7/8 x 11 1/2 in. (22.5 x 29.2 cm) sheet: 8 7/8 x 11 1/2 in...

'Bijou' au bar de la Lune, Montmartre (‘Bijou’, Bar de la Lune, Montmartre), 1932 gelatin silver print image: 13 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. (34.3 x 26 cm) sheet: 15 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (39.7 x 29...

Nature morte, une fumerie d’opium, avenue Bosquet, le plateau avec les pipes... (Still life, an opium den, Avenue Bosquet. A tray with pipes, pins, oil lamp…), 1931 ferrotyped gelati...

recto: signed and editioned 2/40 verso: signed, stamped 'Copyright by BRASSAÏ

recto: signed, lower right verso: stamped ‘Tirage de l’Auteur’; ‘Copyright by BRASSAÏ 1931 All Rights Reserved’, inscribed

Silver gelatin ferrotyped print, printed c.1960, annotated in unknown hand in ink and pencil with photographer's copyright ink stamp verso.