Brassai

Brassai - Gyula Halasz, Hungarian (1899 - 1984)

"Gyula Halász was born in Brassó (Braşov), in south-east Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (today Romania), to a Hungarian father and an Armenian mother. He is sometimes incorrectly described as Jewish. At age three, his family moved to live in Paris, France for a year, while his father, a Professor of Literature, taught at the Sorbonne. As a young man, Gyula Halász studied painting and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, before joining a cavalry regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army, where he served until the end of the First World War. In 1920 Halász went to Berlin, where he worked as a journalist and studied at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Academy of Fine Arts.

Gyula Halász's job and his love of the city, whose streets he often wandered late at night, led to photography. He later wrote that photography allowed him to seize the Paris night and the beauty of the streets and gardens, in rain and mist. Using the name of his birthplace, Gyula Halász went by the pseudonym "Brassaï," which means "from Brasso." 

He captured the essence of the city in his photographs, publishing his first book of photographs in 1933 titled "Paris de nuit" ("Paris by Night"). His efforts met with great success, resulting in his being called "the eye of Paris" in an essay by his friend Henry Miller. 
In addition to photos of the seedier side of Paris, he also provided scenes from the life of the city's high society, its intellectuals, its ballet, and the grand operas. He photographed many of his great artist friends, including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, plus many of the prominent writers of his time such as Jean Genet, Henri Michaux and others"

(((Information from http://rogallery.com/Brassai/brassai-bio.htm))) 
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Brassaï (Gyula Halász).
Secret Paris of the 30s.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Open Gutter
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Palais-Royale train station
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Couple Allonge dans une "Maison d'Illusion", c. 1932

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Place de la Concorde from Automobile Club
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Tugboats and barges beside Pont-Neuf
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Ballet school, Paris. 1953.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Pavement Reflection, Place de la Concorde, 1930's

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Foggy Paris.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Couple Dans Un Bistrot, Rue Saint Denis, c. 1932

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
A la table d'un cafe, 1931-32.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Au Bal Musette, Les ‘Quatre Saisons’ Rue de Lappe, 1932

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
At «Suzy's», rue Gregoire-Tours. 1932.


"photograph of the staff of a Latin Quarter bordello called "Suzy". "Suzy," says Brassai, "was one of the discreet houses that guaranteed the anonymity of its guests. Even priests got in and out without being recognized.""                                                

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Ballet Rose, 1932.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász).

 À la Boule Blanche (At the Boule Blanche),

 c. 1936

 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Foggy Paris.

"Paris distills its gaiety according to a subtle and sometimes elusive formula. It is compounded of appeals to all five senses - a profusion of all that greets the eye on quays, in streets, in theaters; of all that meets the palate in restaurants and cafes; of the seductive essences sold at parfumeries and wafted wide at the flower market; of the trumpetings of the Garde Republicaine, the crescendos that swell from the Opera's pit, and the wails of boat whistles on the Seine; and of all the tactile surfaces - the textures of brick and limestone, rough table-cloths, or jacquard linens, dry leaves or wet grass - that everywhere invite the hand as much as any marble in the Louvre. 

And a kind of sixth sense comes into play. The Paris-sense, part history, part moment, need not be inborn; it is acquired easily enough by visitors, for whom this is usually a city as full of promise as a wedding night. 

Brassai caught the pulse and impulse of the happiest Paris as only a master of motion could have done it. Assembled here, in support of his lilting rhythms, is a sequence of other views on the same subject."

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Open Gutter
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Lovers in a Bistro, 1932.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Bijou at the Bar de la Lune, Montmartre.

Also known as Leahanne in about a year.

1932.

"With his camera, Brassai captured images that were traditional in Parisian life, but he explored those images in new ways. The nightlife in Paris was a particular focus for Brassai. Madame Bijou is a photograph of an old woman who once led a rich life but now lives on charity. She read palms and told stories to receive food and money from gullible men. When Brassai took her picture and later wrote about her in his book, she felt very insulted and humiliated. Here, Miss Diamonds is depicted as an elderly woman, wearing ragged clothing, and laced with fake jewels. Her neck is heavily decorated with necklaces, chains, and chokers and her plump fingers display over a dozen rings, and are intertwined in fake pearls. She wore a ragged black cape that was torn and shiny in spots, which created a very unique look"

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

'Lovers in a small cafe, near the Place d'Italie'

"Unlike many of his contemporaries (such as Lartigue and Doisneau) who were portraying the fashionable and romantic sides of Paris, Brassaï was enraptured by the seedy underworld that could only be seen after hours. It was in the bistros, cafes and bars that Brassaï discovered his most fascinating subjects. And it was in their backrooms and back alleys where Brassaï captures prostitutes, nightclub entertainers, transvestites and their patrons in all stages of revelry."

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Backstage at the Folies Bergère, 1932.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Arc de Triomphe
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Under one of the Seine bridges

From "Paris by Night"

1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Couple d'amoureux sous un réverbère, 1932.

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Boulevards at the Place de l'Opera
From "Paris by Night"
1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Prostitute at angle of

Rue de la Reynie and Rue Quincampoix

From "Paris by Night" 1932

"This image is from a 1932 series taken around Les Halles when Brassai recorded those he called "Venuses of the Crossroads," prostitutes standing at their posts - a section of the sidewalk, a corner - which they had struggled so hard to get."

Brassaï (Gyula Halász).

Dans une boite de nuit (In a Nightclub)

1935.

"Brassai shared the passion for nightwalking with the Surrealists, calling himself a "noc tambulist.""