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Brassaï
No photographer is more closely associated with a city than Brassai (1899 1984) is with Paris. From the moment he moved there in 1924, he devoted his life and art to immortalizing his adopted city capturing the street life by day, the cafes and the Seine by night. A friend of Picasso and Henry Miller, Brassai knew and photographed the leading figures of his day Giacometti, Sartre, Dali, Matisse, and Mann among them. His most famous portraits and cityscapes, collected in this volume, form a unique vision of life in pre- and post-war Europe. The Photofile series brings together the best work of the world s greatest photographers in an attractive format and at an affordable price. Handsome and collectable, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains some sixty full page reproductions, a critical introduction and a full bibliography. The series was awarded the first annual prize for distinguished photographic books by the International Center of Photography."
- GenresPhotographyArt
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2014
11 people want to read
About the author
Roger Grenier
107 books6 followersRoger Grenier was a French writer, journalist and radio animator. He was Regent of the Collège de ’Pataphysique.
In his youth he lived in Pau, where his mother opened a shop selling glasses. During the war, Roger Grenier attended Gaston Bachelard's classes at the Sorbonne before actively participating in 1944 in the liberation of Paris. He joined Albert Camus in the newspaper "Combat" then in "France Soir". Journalist, he followed post-war trials which inspired his first essay in 1949 "Le Rôle d'accusé". Radio animator, writer for television and cinema, member of the Gallimard board, he is recipient of the "Grand prix de l'Académie française" awarded to him in 1985 for his whole work, more than thirty works at that moment, novels, including two best-sellers "Le Palais d'hiver" of 1965 and "Ciné-roman", Prix Femina in 1972, essays and memoirs. He is best known in the United States for his work "The Difficulty of Being a Dog" (Les larmes d'Ulysse), translated by Alice Kaplan. He is still writing and is a busy conference attendee, speaking about his works, literature, Gallimard, or his friends: Albert Camus and Brassaï.
(from Wikipedia)
In his youth he lived in Pau, where his mother opened a shop selling glasses. During the war, Roger Grenier attended Gaston Bachelard's classes at the Sorbonne before actively participating in 1944 in the liberation of Paris. He joined Albert Camus in the newspaper "Combat" then in "France Soir". Journalist, he followed post-war trials which inspired his first essay in 1949 "Le Rôle d'accusé". Radio animator, writer for television and cinema, member of the Gallimard board, he is recipient of the "Grand prix de l'Académie française" awarded to him in 1985 for his whole work, more than thirty works at that moment, novels, including two best-sellers "Le Palais d'hiver" of 1965 and "Ciné-roman", Prix Femina in 1972, essays and memoirs. He is best known in the United States for his work "The Difficulty of Being a Dog" (Les larmes d'Ulysse), translated by Alice Kaplan. He is still writing and is a busy conference attendee, speaking about his works, literature, Gallimard, or his friends: Albert Camus and Brassaï.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 31, 2017
What a gorgeous little book. The photography was phenomenal and the way the black and white photos were captured, felt so alive and vivid.
May 24, 2020
I had been putting off looking at Brassaï's work for very long. Somehow most of his photographs had slipped my attention for very long.
His work in the thirties must have been very interesting in those years, he used to time his night exposures by smoking different brands of cigarettes (at least that's how the story goes). I found myself mostly interested in his later work, post WWII and into the 60s and 70s, which is the second half of the book.
Definitely will be looking more thoroughly through Brassaï's archive at some point in time.
His work in the thirties must have been very interesting in those years, he used to time his night exposures by smoking different brands of cigarettes (at least that's how the story goes). I found myself mostly interested in his later work, post WWII and into the 60s and 70s, which is the second half of the book.
Definitely will be looking more thoroughly through Brassaï's archive at some point in time.
September 4, 2022
Read this back to back with one of Kertész. Everyone is always astonished, flabbergasted, in awe of Brassaï, overflowing with compliments. Different than Kertész's persona.
August 16, 2014
I never have been real big on portraits and that sort of thing, so I didn't get too much out of that portion of the program. But some of his exteriors are just awesome...they're so elemental--or fundamental (at any rate, something like that). Seriously, among the best, most gut-grabbing, jaw-dropping photos I've ever seen by anyone.
And as always with these kinds of things, never ever read the introduction (you'll be glad you didn't). ;)
And as always with these kinds of things, never ever read the introduction (you'll be glad you didn't). ;)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews