Brassai

Brassaï (9 September 1899 – 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris beginning between the World Wars. In the early 21st century, the discovery of more than 200 letters and hundreds of drawings and other items from the period 1940–1984 has provided scholars with material for understanding his later life and career. Brassaï captured the essence of the city in his photographs, published as his first collection in the 1933 book entitled Paris de nuit (Paris by Night). His book gained great success, resulting in being called "the eye of Paris" in an essay by his friend Henry Miller. In addition to photos of the seedier side of Paris, Brassai portrayed scenes from the life of the city's high society, its intellectuals, its ballet, and the grand operas. He had been befriended by a French family who gave him access to the upper classes. Brassaï became interested in photography as a way to record encounters on his nightly walks through the streets of Paris. He enjoyed these long strolls after dark and began carrying a camera and tripod in 1929. These photographs are very different from Cartier-Bresson’s as they are theatrical performances rather than decisive moments. Brassaï’s subjects are not only aware of the photographer, they collaborate with him. Brassaï’s unique style gave Paris de nuit its distinctive intimacy and led to its huge public success.

Why I chose this photographer:

I chose to study the work of Brassai as I felt that he has a very interesting approach to street photography through his focus on culture, specifically love and relationships. I also liked the fact that he photographs at night which always look mysterious and anonymous or even contain hidden messages.

Hotel, Boulevard de Clichy, c. 1930–32. - The photograph depicts a dark, cobbled street lined with ‘Hotel’ neon signs which reflect off the smooth cobbles. A lone figure can be seen vanishing into the darkness in the background. The bright sign lights and illuminated windows provides a sense of life within a small windy backstreet. The image has quite an atmospheric feel especially with the dark figure in the background. The buildings tower over the camera from all sides creating quite an imposing scene especially with the building in the background boxing the image in not allowing the audience to see into the horizon which makes the location very anonymous. Alike a lot of his photographs there is also a mysterious tone to the outcome which is due to the unknown in regards to the dark which also can be considered to provide a sense of danger or caution.

This photograph is very deep and meaningful and contains more that originally meets the eye. In fact there is a great contrast in this photograph through many avenues. It depicts a couple setting on a bench kissing each other who stand out from the surroundings through a street light. This contrasts with a man who appears to be homeless, sleeping on the bench submerged in their shadow. This shows a great contrast between love and relationships with looniness, emptiness and homeless. The contrast of light allows the couple to stand out and the man to become almost un-noticeable. The fact that they are so close together implies that this is an underlying issue in society which opposes the ideality of love. The man is almost invisible to the audience as well as the couple. The darkness that he is in implies negativity and neglect whist the brightness of the couple come across positive and loving.

This picture is similar to a lot of his photography which emphasises loneliness and mystery. This is depicted through the dark low lit dingy setting which sparse amounts of light provide visibility. The way that there is a figure walking up the path with their back to camera, almost acting as a silhouette makes the anonymous and introduces mystery as their identity is unknown. The fact that he is all alone also implies loneliness and abandonment. There is great depth in this piece as the path provides perspective as well as the street lights which also show the form of the treats and produce shadows. The way in which the path in the distance leads to a brighter location which conveys positivity.

This photograph contains dominant themes of sexism, sexualisation and objectification of women where prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination is taking place typically against women, on the basis of sex. Sexual objectification of women. Female sexual objectification by a male involves a woman being viewed primarily as an object of male sexual desire, rather than as a whole person and this is clearly displayed in this photograph through the women's lack of clothing which contrasts with the man. The ratio of women to men her is 3:1 where they are seen to only being used in order to satisfy the man, reaching his needs and demands, pleasuring him through being tactile. The women are exposed for their bodies which contrasts with the mans full body suit.

Influence on my own work:

Brassai has influenced my work a lot through inspiring me to experiment with street photography and also to shoot a night, using street lights and capturing very dark mysterious scenarios. 

Conclusion:

Overall I really like Brassai's work through the way he uses light and darkness in order to create very mysterious pieces and even at times confront social issues or hide identities.