Brassaï: Paris & Picasso

by Brassaï, Brassaï, Henry Miller (Contributor)

A beautifully produced introduction to the Hungarian photographer’s classic images of bohemian Paris between the wars In the 1930s Paris was brimming with life, and Brassaï and Picasso were there to make the most of it―Brassaï portraying the city’s boulevards and gardens, shops and markets, intellectuals and street life, and Picasso galvanizing its art culture with his innovations. The two of them quickly became fast friends. For Brassaï (1899–1984), the many contrasts and contradictions of Paris were a source of endless fascination, from its various underworlds to the liveliness of its bohemia. He prolifically documented his numerous artist and writer friends, such as Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Genet―and Picasso, whom he first met in 1932 and whose sculptural work he was the first to photograph.
This volume compiles Brassaï’s richly resonant and much-loved black-and-white portraits of this golden era, with a focus throughout on his many images of Picasso at work and at play. It includes a text by Henry Miller that provides a flavor of this astounding era.

152 pages, Hardcover

Published May 10, 2022

About the author

George Brassaï (pseudonym of Gyula Halász) (9 September 1899 — 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, 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.