Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Photographer, writer, sculptor

• Born: September 9, 1899
• Birthplace: Brassó, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary
• Died: July 8, 1984
• Place of death: Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France

Education: Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts

Significance: Brassaï was a Hungarian-French artist, photographer, and writer whose portraits of the city of Paris and its population propelled him to international fame beginning in the 1930s. Over the next several decades, Brassaï's photographs appeared in multiple publications and were featured in films and stage productions. He released several collections of his photography and published biographical and autobiographical books featuring his images. Following his death in 1984, Brassaï's work continued to be exhibited in many prestigious museums and art institutions around the world.

Background

Brassaï (Gyula Halász) was born in Brassó, Transylvania, in 1899. Brassó was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of his birth but later became part of Romania. His father was Hungarian, and his mother was Armenian. Although he was raised in Brassó, his family spent time in Paris, France, as his father was a professor of French literature. His father taught at the Sorbonne in Paris for one year, after which the family returned to Austria-Hungary.

In his youth, Brassaï studied painting at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He later joined the Austro-Hungarian army and served in the cavalry regiment throughout World War I (1914–1918). In 1920, he moved to Berlin, Germany, and began working as a journalist. He also continued to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg.

Brassaï decided to move to Paris in 1924. He found a job as a journalist but remained focused on his artistic interests. He enjoyed spending time in the Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris, which housed a large and energetic population of young artists. Brassaï experimented in various art forms besides painting during this period, such as sculpture and drawing. He also made friends with many prominent artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henry Miller, and Salvador Dalí. His friendships with the many artists he met throughout his life became the basis for his future work in photography.

Brassaï became interested in photography as a result of his journalism job. While working for Le Minotaure art review magazine, he was assigned a job photographing the studios of various artists. He began to appreciate photography as an artistic medium through the influence of his friend André Kertész, whose work he admired. He then began experimenting with photography and grew to love its many artistic possibilities. The city of Paris became his primary photographic subject over the next few years. He particularly enjoyed wandering the city streets at night in search of scenes to photograph.

Overview

Brassaï continued to use photography is his journalism efforts as he developed his own art. His early subjects included hoodlums, prostitutes, petty criminals, and other nighttime characters of Paris. His grainy, textured photographs captured the gloom and whimsy of Paris after hours, when the streets were empty and the bistros darkened. He published his first collection of photography, Paris de Nuit (Paris at Night), in 1933. The collection received critical acclaim. That same year, he became a founding member of the Rapho agency, a French press agency that revolved around humanist photography. Brassaï released a second photography collection two years later titled Voluptés de Paris (Pleasures of Paris), which contained similar themes to his first book. Again focusing on Paris at night, this collection included shots of rainy Paris days and featured several of the city's most famous destinations, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Rue de Rivoli.

Brassaï's brand of candid photography earned him an esteemed reputation among the Parisian art scene. He began working for Harper's Bazaar in 1936 and continued to work there for the next three decades. At the end of the 1930s, he turned his attention to the street art of Paris. He became fascinated with the graffiti and wall markings he witnessed throughout his day. He again took to the streets, this time to document the evolution of the city's street art. This work was later collected into a volume of photography titled Graffiti, issued in 1961.

When World War II (1939–1945) began, Brassaï fled Paris to avoid the German army's occupation. During the conflict, photography was prohibited in the streets, so Brassaï instead focused on painting, drawing, and sculpture. His drawings were published as a volume titled Trente Dessins (Thirty Drawings)in 1946, a year after the war ended. The war's end allowed Brassaï to reclaim his passion for photography.

Brassaï's reputation continued to grow throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He designed for the stage, made films, and dabbled in sculpture. He had become an internationally renowned photographer, exhibiting his works at prominent galleries and museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art. He also began documenting the artwork of many prominent artists during this time. His work took him all over the world, and he visited many exotic locales such as the Arctic and Morocco. In 1948, he released the book of photographs Les Sculptures de Picasso. Brassaï photographed the personal spaces of many famous artists during this period, exposing viewers to the intimate details of artists' lives.

Picasso became the subject of Brassaï's 1964 book Conversations with Picasso, which featured photographs and conversations with the famous artist. The Museum of Modern Art exhibited a retrospective of Brassaï's work in 1968. In his later career, he issued several more biographical and autobiographical books featuring his photos. In 1975, he published Henry Miller: The Paris Years. The following year he issued an expanded version of Paris en Nuit titled The Secret Paris of the 30's. In 1982, Brassaï published The Artists of My Life, a collection of his artist portraits spanning more than three decades.

Impact

Brassaï earned many awards for his work throughout his career including the gold medal at the Photography Biennial in Venice in 1957 and the American Society of Photographers Magazine prize in 1966. He earned France's Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 1974 and the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1978. Brassaï's work continues to hang in the collections of many prominent museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the International Museum of Photography, the Walker Art Center, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Personal Life

Brassaï married Gilberte Boyer in 1948.

Principal Works

• Paris de Nuit, 1933
• Voluptés de Paris, 1934
• Trente Dessins, 1946
• Graffiti, 1961
• Conversations with Picasso, 1964
• Henry Miller: The Paris Years, 1975
• The Artists of My Life, 1982

Bibliography

Brassaï. Conversations with Picasso. U of Chicago P, 1999.

"Brassaï (Gyula Halász)." International Center of Photography, www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/brassa%C3%AF-gyula-hal%C3%A1sz?all/all/all/all/0. Accessed 6 Feb. 2018.

"Brassai (Gyula Halasz)." International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum,iphf.org/inductees/brassai/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2018.

"Brassaï (Gyula Halász)." Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/artists/745. Accessed 6 Feb. 2018.

Frezzato, Enrichetta. "Brassaï: The Eye of Paris and His Hungarian Soul." The Culture Trip, 3 Apr. 2017, theculturetrip.com/europe/hungary/articles/brassa-the-eye-of-paris-and-his-hungarian-soul/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2018.

Grundberg, Andy. "Brassai, Photographer of Paris Nightlife, Dies." New York Times, 12 July 1984, www.nytimes.com/1984/07/12/obituaries/brassai-photographer-of-paris-nightlife-dies.html. Accessed 6 Feb. 2018.