Brassai (French/Hungarian, 1899 to 1984)
Gyula Halasz was born in Hungary in the last year of the 19th century, and only used Brassai as a name for his photographic pursuits years later. After serving in World War I at the tender age of 17, Brassai returned home to study fine art. He also started to work in journalism as a means to support his artistic endeavors. When the French finally lifted their ban on the entry of former enemy citizens in 1924, he immediately moved to Paris. He continued working as a journalist, purchasing his first camera in 1930.
Brassai roamed the streets at night, sometimes with friends like Henry Miller. His friend, and fellow Hungarian, Andre Kertesz, finally convinced him to photograph these late- evening sojourns. Initially he concentrated on streets and buildings, taking long exposures on a tripod using his burning cigarettes. Flashbulbs came slightly later and Brassai used them to great effect. Brassai was brilliant at creating a an unparalleled sense of tension and mood in his photographs. In 1932 a friend took him to a “bal-musette” and introduced Brassai to Paris’s nocturnal demimonde.
Information courtesy of Swann Galleries Inc., October 2003.