Brassai: Paris by Night

Product Information

Published for the first time in 1933 and originally designed by Brassaï himself, this is a high-quality reproduction of his legendary first book of photographs. The photograph feels surreal, and at the same time her situation speaks of strife, of some form of hardship, of a lonely existence at the edge of night. La Môme Bijou, Bar de la Lune, Montmartre, 1932Gyula Halász was born in Brassó, Hungary (now Brașov, Romania) and lived most of his adult life in Paris.

The roads ebb by like frozen boiling rivers, through the blinding lights all effervescent yellow forever dimming upwards, hawking wares like glittering salvations from the heart of the night's pure diversion from diurnal life. He was one of the numerous Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris beginning between the World Wars.Roaming Paris streets by night in the early 1930s, Brassa created arresting images of the city's dramatic nocturnal landscape. Roaming the city at night, he brought his camera along and began to capture the unique flora and fauna of nighttime Paris. This new edition gives us the same images and, according to the publisher’s statement, “uses the latest engraving technology to reproduce faithfully the quality of the original photographs”. The black-and-white photographs, printed on matte black pages, have a misty, dreamlike, almost magical look, a perfect match for their poetic content. Ein wunderbarer Bildband, aus einer Zeit, als Fotografieren noch eine hochkomplizierte Kunst war und Bilder entweder gleich, oder niemals etwas geworden sind.

By the end of his life, he’d published 17 books and even produced one film, Tant qu’il y aura des bêtes ( As long as there are beasts), which was released in 1955 and won a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This book was recommended to be by a gardening book that said he was the master of shadows and boy oh boy was the author right. He was roaming a lot of the streets in the evenings, trying to really understand the communities, the activities that were taking place at night,” says Linde B. Forms dance in silent, slow movements beckoning you forward, hinting of a meaning slightly underwater, gently out of grasp. One, On the boulevard Saint-Jacques (1930–32), even captures Brassaï in his element: He stands on a snowy Parisian street in a heavy coat and a brimmed hat, cigarette propped between his lips, peering into a tripod-mounted camera.He snapped pictures of the meat porters and kissing couples of the streets, and the giddy inhabitants of restaurants and lounges. A beautiful new edition of Brassaï’s classic book of urban photography, Paris by Night, shows both the bright and dark sides of Paris as seen through the eyes of a talented young artist who fell under the city’s spell. Continuing his work as a sculptor and painter, he supported himself by working as a journalist, adopting the pseudonym of Brassaï, derived from the name of his native city, Brassó.

Compare the lovely, striking, somewhat mysterious image on the cover with the drab reproduction of the same photograph on page 14. Working as a journalist by day, by night he roamed the streets of the capital and visited its bistros, sharing moments in the lives of the prostitutes and peddlers, down-and-outs, and illicit lovers who lived on the margins of society.tall x 10-5/8"; black cover; lamination is lifting from cover; crease along top 6" front cover and light corresponding creases to first 2 pp; ca. When the allies liberated the city in 1944, Brassaï leaned out of his apartment window to watch—he was, as ever, the fearless voyeur.