Brassaď
(Gyula Halász)
1899-1984, French
Biography
| |
Exhibitions | |
Publications |
Brassai is regarded as the
photographer whose pictures form the basis upon which many non-Parisians' ideas
about Paris are formed. His best known work consists of night scenes of "the
City of Lights" in the 1930s, including photographs of the architecture;
people in cafes and bars; workers who kept the city going after dark; clochoards
who lived under the bridges; and performers, artists, and writers of the period.
Born Gyula Halász in the
(now Rumanian) town of Brasso (whence his adopted name) at the turn of the
century, Brassai's original ambition was to paint . He studied art in Hungary
and Germany as a youth, finally coming to Paris in 1924 as a journalist. As a
small child he had accompanied his father to that city and stayed for a year.
The city left a lasting impression which became a powerful interest upon his
return. Brassai became fascinated with the nightlife he saw around him, both on
the streets and in public gathering places. He claimed that the images he saw
haunted him; recording them became something of an obsession. Although he was a
skilful painter, he found the medium too time consuming and lacking immediacy.
During this time he
befriended a fellow expatriate, André Kertesz, who finally convinced Brassai to
try his hand at photography. For the first six years of his life in Paris
Brassai had avoided photography, considering the medium to be too mechanical and
impersonal. His opinion changed quickly when he saw the results of his first
efforts to record Paris after dark. He immersed himself in his new-found pastime
and in 1933 produced a book of night pictures entitled Paris de Nuit,
which met with critical acclaim.
Brassai's wanderings
around the cafes and bars of Paris brought him into contact with many of the
artists and writers living in the city during that period. He established
lifelong ties with Picasso, Giacometti, Sartre,
Henry Miller, and many others.
Many of Brassai's pictures
of the city of Paris were used in magazines; others remained unseen and
unpublished until later in his career. These pictures depict in a non-judgmental
and keenly observed fashion the prostitutes, opium addicts, lovers (both
homosexual and heterosexual), street hoodlums, performers, and night time
revellers of pre-war Paris.
Brassai's reputation as a
photographer had reached the United States by the mid-thirties, and some of his
work was included in an exhibition entitled Photography: 1839-1937 at
the Museum of Modern Art. Brassai continued to document Parisian life and make
environmental portraits of his fellow artists until the outbreak of World War
II. Unrestricted photography in occupied France being all but impossible,
Brassai turned to his earlier discipline of drawing. At the end of the war a
selection of these drawings was published. Brassai then returned to his camera
and at the same time began work on a novel, Histoire de Marie, which
was published with an introduction by Henry Miller in 1948. Three years later a
collection of Brassai's photographs was published under the title Camera in
Paris.
Info Brassai (Gyula-Halász) 1899-1984 Start technique heliogravure