Cat masks by Leonor Fini

Brassaï (1899-1984) ~ Les demoiselles de la nuit (*). Ballet de Paris, 1949. Ferrotyped gelatin silver print | src Christie’s

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(*) Ballet in one act with choreography by Roland Petit, libretto by Jean Anouilh, scenery & costume design (including the ballet's cat masks) by Leonor Fini. It tells the story of a musician who falls in love with his beautiful cat Agathe, who has assumed semi-human form. Agathe tries to be faithful to her human lover but is lured away by the sound of tomcats and the call of freedom. She leaps off the rooftops and the musician falls to his death as he tries to grab hold of her. She falls after him and they are united in death. | src The Oxford Dictionary of Dance

Brassaï, Gala à l’Opéra Garnier, Paris, France, 1930

Picasso mime l'artiste peintre (avec Jean Marais comme modèle), photographiés par Brassaï (Gyula Halasz)

Paris By Night by Gyula Halasz

- 1933

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

"Bijou" of Montmartre

1932

Couple Au Bal Blomet, Paris. 1931-1932

Photo: Brassaï (Gyula Halasz)

Brassai (Gyula Halasz)

Female nude, Paris, 1937

Brassai (Gyula Halasz)

Clochard avec son chat, 1932

Blogpost #9

Gyula Halasz, or Brassai, was a Hungarian-French photographer from the 20th century. His pseudonym Brassai means “from Brasso,” which is the town where he grew up in the Kingdom of Hungary. Brassai gained popularity after his book Paris de nuit, Paris by Night, was published in 1933. He portrayed life in the city’s high society, such as ballets and operas. 

Brassai book

Brassai, Gate of the Jardin du Luxembourg, 1932

Brassai, Nuit de Longchamps, 1936

Brassai, Place de la Concorde, 1945

Brassai, Avenue de L’Observatoire, 1934

Brassai, Pont Neuf, 1949

Brassai, Plane Tree, Paris, 1938

Brassai, Prison Wall of la Sante, 1932

The images I selected were from the book Brassai, by Brassai with an introductory essay by Lawrence Durrel, published in 1968. The cover of the book from MIT libraries is plain blue, so the cover image shown was found from an online version. Brassai shot a lot of images at night or in low-light conditions. He probably had a high exposure in order to get any detail, which might be why some of the images look a bit blurry. While the sky is dark, there are often artificial lights shown that cast shadows of the visible objects in the pictures. I particularly liked his photos featuring reflections in water, creating interesting shapes with the distorted lights in the current. His works also tend to be of higher contrast, with the exception of Place de la Concorde, which is noticeably more mid-gray compared to the other images that are much more black-and-white with some grays in between. Brassai often put his subject in the center of the frame, either horizontally or vertically rather than have the focus be off-center. The subject of the photos that stuck out the most to me were almost all free of people, focusing more on nature or architecture. There were a lot of other images in the book that showed people, usually one or two rather than a big crowd, but I personally am not as drawn to those works. Brassai showed that a photographer can display an everyday scene in a captivating way rather than always leaning on human subjects to make photos interesting. 

"Portrait de Lili Wegener" par Gerda Wegener (1922), "Tamara de Lempicka" photographiée dans son appartement par Thérèse Bonney (circa 1929), "Autoportrait" par Claude Cahun (circa 1928), "Le Cabaret Féminine Le Monocle à Paris" par Gyula Halasz Brassaï (1933) et "Premières Femmes à Porter un Pantalon Publiquement, Place de la Concorde à Paris, en France" agence Keystone (1933) à l'exposition "Parisiennes Citoyennes ! Engagements pour l’Emancipation des Femmes (1789-2000)" du Musée Carnavalet, octobre 2022.

Brassaï (Hungarian–French,1899-1984)

Hair creation by Antoine de Paris ,1930

Paris By Night by Gyula Halasz

- 1933

Brassai (Gyula Halasz), Lovers, Rue Saint Denis, 1931. 

Gelatin silver print

Gift and bequest of H. Russell Albright, M.D. / MoMa

Brassaï (Gyula Halasz, 1899-1984), New York, 1957

Eravamo amanti imperfetti

noi due,

troppo selvaggi per domarci,

troppo rari per lasciarci andare.

-Atticus

Foto Gyula Halasz

Amando.

Pentesilea

Brassaï - Folies-Bergères (Paris 1932)