Brassaï, born Gyula Halász on September 9, 1899, in Brassó, Transylvania (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Brașov, Romania), was a Hungarian-born French photographer renowned for his evocative images of Parisian nightlife in the 1930s. His early life was formative. He showed artistic promise from a very early age. Following the First world War he found himself in Romania and unable to speak the language went to Budapest and then Berlin to study art. In Berlin he became friends with Kandinsky and Moholy-Nagy. After a while, he abandoned studying at the Academy to adopt a personal enquiry into the arts. It was in Berlin that he first acquired an appetite for interminable wanderings in a city looking for the banal, the incongruous, the fortunate and the fast dissapearing life that typified an historic past. Here it was that he started his life as a Flâneur.

After studying painting and sculpture in Budapest and Berlin, he moved to Paris in 1924, immersing himself in the city’s vibrant artistic circles, which included luminaries like André Kertész, Picasso, Joan Miró, Man Ray and Salvador Dalí. Initially working as a journalist and artist, Brassaï turned to photography to complement his articles. He eventually discovered a passion for capturing the city’s nocturnal essence, wandering the streets at night, with the likes of Henry Miller, and visiting his artistic friends in the Left Bank in particular.

Adopting the pseudonym “Brassaï”, meaning “from Brassó,” he embarked on nightly excursions through Paris, documenting its diverse inhabitants and atmospheric streets. His seminal work, Paris de Nuit (Paris by Night), published in 1933, showcased 64 photographs that illuminated both the glamour and grit of the city after dark. Utilizing a Voigtländer plate camera, tripod, and flash, he overcame the technical challenges of night photography to produce images that were both candid and composed. He broke new ground by placing darkness, shadows, and people with severe issues, such as drunkards and prostitutes at the centre of his style of photography.

Brassaï’s lens captured a wide spectrum of Parisian life—from the opulence of opera-goers and café society to the rawness of streetwalkers, laborers, and the homeless. He photographed not only great artists like Picasso but also the sad beauty of a naked prostitute. He photographed the drunkard lying slumped on the banks of the Seine and the street toughs. His work resonated with the Surrealist movement, reflecting a fascination with the city’s hidden and often marginalized facets. Beyond photography, he was also a writer, sculptor, and filmmaker, contributing to various artistic disciplines throughout his career. 

Conchita and the sailors 1932

Couple 1932

Sleeping man in straw hat 1933-34

Morris Column 1931-32

Nude 1934

Prostitute in the Quarter Italie 1932-33

The winding stream 1931-32

Montmartre 1930-31

On the boulevard Saint-Jacques 1930-32

Graffiti - The Sun King 1945-50

References:

Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Brassaï: For the Love of Paris, Flammarion; 1st edition (11 Nov. 2013)

Peter Galassi, Brassaï, Art Publishers, 2018

Paul Morand, Brassaï: Paris by Night, Flammarion; New edition (11 July 2011)