Brassai Paris: 1899-1984

Everyone in the know knows that Taschen is a top-of-the-line publisher of Art and Photography books so naturally this one is beautifully done. However, even Taschen can make blunders. The flaps of the cover on this book are a dark shade of lipstick red with small black lettering. Ironically the blurb on these flaps describes Bendikt Taschen's twenty-fifth anniversary as an art book publisher. Because of the tiny black type on the dark red background it is virtually impossible to read about how great Taschen books are. Fortunately, this is the only flaw I found in this excellent book, it's just amusing that the mistake involves the text it does. At least the reader can read the testimonial on the back cover's flap because it is in larger black type and simply proclaims "The most exquisite books on the planet." Brassai didn't take his first pictures until 1929. In 1932 a journalist friend told Brassai he knew of a publisher who wanted to publish a book of photographs of Paris at night but had been unable to find a photographer who could handle the task. Brassai had already been exhaustively exploring exactly that subject with his camera. Later that same year in December 1932 Brassai's first book PARIS DE NUIT was published. Almost a dozen more books followed during his long life and career. It wasn't until 1976 that the more erotic pictures of Paris nightlife were published in Brassai's LE PARIS SECRET DES ANNEES 30, which is one of this reviewer's favorites. Those pictures that were also taken in the 1930's were too hot for a publisher to risk bankruptcy and or jail by publishing before 1976 when the obscenity laws were relaxed somewhat. This volume contains some pictures from all or at least most of Brassai's books including LES SCULPTURES DE PICASSO, GRAFFITI, PICASSO & CO., HENRY MILLER: GRANDEUR NATURE and THE ARTISTS OF MY LIFE. Brassai, who was also an accomplished artist in several mediums, was a member of the Bohemian Montparnasse or what I call the "Camelot of Art." He was friends with most of the artists and writers of the period. Much of his early photography was to document them and their work for publication. He was their contemporary and while his non-photography work is also masterful, it was photography that was to make him famous. Throughout his life he kept switching back and forth working in various art mediums. He loved the variety and couldn't, wouldn't really specialize in any one facet of art. He liked his freedom too much to only practice one of his passions. He was a master craftsman of several including writing. He often wrote articles to pay his bills especially after he first arrived from his native Transylvania where he was born in 1899. I apologize in advance but when I learned that Brassai was from Transylvania I could not keep myself from wondering about his fascination with photographing Paris after dark. He loved those pitch-black forays and at one time was familiar with the most unsavory and criminal characters populating the sleazy nighttime world of Paris. This was dangerous information to know because the local gangsters would rub out any stool pigeons they even thought might be spying for the police. Just maybe the man from Transylvania simply was not frightened of these mere mortals? Nobody else had previously done it and most photographers weren't up to the job or were too scared to attempt taking midnight pictures of gargoyles on the top of Norte Dame by the light of a full moon, street harlots and their pimps, muggers, murders and thieves, homosexual clubs and brothels of all sorts, heroin dens and any other unsavory activity including perverts trysting clandestinely in various infamous Paris Loos. That may have been where Brassai picked up his fascination with graffiti? He eventually turned that graffiti into a book, which must be something akin to turning a lemon into lemonade. This is the best Brassai book to own if you are only going to have one of his published photographic collections. Taschen really does do a remarkably good job of publishing art books and hopefully they will stay out of the red and in the black. Sorry about that folks, I couldn't resist. Have fun discovering the world of a remarkable photographer from what is now Hungry. (I'm resisting another bad pun.) This really is a very, very good, terrific collection of historically significant photographs.

Brassaï is one of those indispensable artists, which rarely come along every 50 years or so. Photographer, writer, painter, film maker, he recorded for us what must have been the most fruitful era for art, in the most fruitful place for art: Paris. He knew everyone from the dadaists to the surrealists and the cubists. He formed an uneasy friendship with Picasso, which resulted on his book My Conversations With Picasso, a first hand account of the comings and goings in the artist's life and studio, that I highly recommend. But it is as a photographer that he excels, providing for us unforgettable images of the city that he loved. Paris by Night, one of his colections of photos, gives us the wanderings about, of an artist and his camera at a time at which the city is at it's most beautiful, without any other equipment than a tripod to hold his camera steady. This book also includes The Secret Paris and a wonderful section of artis's portraits: Dalí, Picasso, Matisse and many others.

i was really happy with this book. there is some great text which accompanies the images that i had not read before. overall, i totally recommend! i love brassai and i have only seen a couple of his books that are better.

This is a wonderful collection of Brassai's work. Taschen did a great job as usual collecting wonderful, well-known photographs as well as including some that I haven't seen before. Book is larger than I expected, which was more than exciting. It measures about 12" high by about 9" wide (estimated). Photos are printed well and there is just enough text (more photos than text pages). I'd recommend it to any lover of Brassai's work.

The photo book on Paris by Brassai, the famous photographer and the friend of Picasso, is fine; it describes the past and often already lost Paris. As frequent visitors of this city. "la ville lumiere," we liked it much, my wife got it as a X-mas present.The deliveration by mail from the USA was extremely rapid and exacted our Finnish address.

Taschen publishes excellent good-value books, and Brassai: Paris is no exception. If you are a fan of Brassai's photography, or you want to expand your library beyond the standard Paris photographs, you will love this book. One thing to be aware of is that the photographs in this book are not primarily about Paris: although most (not all) photographs were undoubtably taken in Paris, for the most part the subjects are the people rather than the city. The photo on the cover showing a couple having a drink at a bar is typical of what you'll find in the book. Having said that, there is a wide range of subject matter represented here, from patterns in the snow to workers engaged in daily labor.But if you are looking for a book with primarily photographs of Paris as the subject, I would recommend Paris: Portrait of a City (also by Jean-Claude Gautrand) as a more suitable choice.Many of Brassai's photos were taken at night, so there are a lot of atmospheric night shots (exquisitely evocative). There are also quite a few nudes, particularly shots taken of the patrons and prostitutes inside brothels.The text by Jean-Claude Gautrand is excellent.

Brassai! Was für ein Fotograf. Es scheint, als wenn all seine Bilder aus den 20ern, noch heute den Charme, die Freude und die Magie damaliger Zeiten, versprühen!Ein Buch, mit dem man direkt zu den Charakteren in unterschiedlichen, auch privaten, spontanen, einzigartigen Situationen versetzt wird!Ein Muss für Fotografie, Paris und 20er-Jahre Fans!

Sans parler de Brassai qui reste pour moi un des meilleurs photographes du XXème, ce livre est un plaisir pour les yeuxet nous permet d'apprécier la différence entre argentique et numérique au niveau des lumière et des contrastes;J'adore !!!

Responde a las espectativas de la web. Muy buena edición y buen precio, libro muy recomendable para amantes de la fotografia

There are two books on the subject of Paris which superficially appear rather similar and are published by Taschen, namely Eugene Atget's Paris (from the Icons Series) and this, which is of a significantly larger format and also a hardback. You may find them in hardback or flexible-back editions, which are otherwise identical.Atget was by far the older of the two and died in 1927 at 70 years of age and Brassai, born in 1908 in what is now Romania, did not actually arrive in France until 1924 and Paris a few years later. There are obvious differences in the two photographers' techniques due mainly to differences in their periods of activity and the equipment and materials then available to them. Atget was slightly limited by those of his day, but Brassai much less and able in later life to use some very capable materials and equipment. Brassai lived until 2004, by which time Paris had been through yet another war, an Occupation and a long recovery period during which it gradually evolved from what it had been in Atget's day to largely what it is today. The changes were many and some of Brassai's favourite haunts of old had by then long disappeared.There is some similarity in elements of their photography but Atget was mostly fascinated by the ordinary, everyday life of his city, often as not by an individual in its streets and Brassai's attention was largely drawn to groups and the unusual or hidden, sometimes criminal, secret, salacious or socially necessary but unspeakable activities of life in the city.Brassai had spent a lot of his time in an area called Les Halles which officially was the location of Paris' wholesale food markets, until its businesses gradually relocated from Central Paris during the late 50s and early 60s, but took on a wholly different character once the markets had closed for the day. After hours, it became home to unlicensed clubs and the haunts of gangs, criminals and those seeking one nefarious activity or another. Brassai photographed pretty much everything from when he first encountered the area until it disappeared. There are other books with Brassai's photography of Paris that cover much of that period in and around Les Halles and others with its broader nightlife. One was published by Thames and Hudson and can sometimes be found although first published several years ago. Some of the images seen here are either identical or very similar to some in that book, but not that many.Although Brassai is perhaps best known for his candid style, often in the streets but also in clubs and bars, there are some images here that I would not, without a label or other information, ascribe to Brassai. There are a few still-lifes and a similar number of classic nudes, which are very much 'art photography' and not what I would have expected of Brassai. The variety of images is far wider than I would have expected and that is an unexpected joy. The images, of which there are many, are printed in a slightly warm but still neutral tone rather than the much warmer dark sepia or plum-brown of some of the other Brassai titles I own. The size of the pages allows a greater scale than I have previously seen many of more familiar of its images, some of which are printed edge to edge and to good advantage, although I had seen a small number on a much larger, exhibition, scale. Some of the imagery shows a side of Paris which few would have known and may surprise the reader with its openness despite the personal nature of the events and situations portrayed.Both books mentioned here and published by Taschen are excellent, but essentially different. In any event, both photographers were masters in their day. Neither book is overly expensive. If you have an interest in vintage photography or simply in Paris, it may be worthwhile buying both. If your photographic preferences are for the more modern, then Brassai's is the natural choice, as it will be if image size is important. In terms of quality, there is little to choose between the two.With Taschen titles, you will find excellent printing quality and attention paid to presenting the imagery to the highest possible standards and as close to the original as is possible. The only issue with Taschen, and it is a minor one, is that they are a German publisher who also publishes in French, English and sometimes other Western European languages. You may therefore find that some titles are multi-lingual, as is this one, or one whose language is other than you would wish. However, Taschen's books mostly rely primarily on their pictorial content and the text is then secondary and usually quite minimal. The imagery should speak for itself and I don't therefore have a major problem if I were to find a non-English title.