Brassaï in Bredgade

City Life ‘By Night’

Hazy dark shadows, blinding lanterns, masculine women, worn out prostitutes, dancing couples and street corners with sinister-looking men. The Hungarian-French photographer Brassaï’s pictures of Paris are today iconic and world-renowned for having captured the unique, open-minded Parisian nightlife in light and shadow. Paris and its distinctive nightlife dazzled Brassaï, and from the time he took up photography in the late 1920s and onwards, he captured this side of Paris with his camera during nightly wanderings. His photographs from Paris documented, as some of the first, the modern urban life 'by night'.

Iconic Photographs

At the auction in Bredgade, you can right now experience a number of these iconic, Parisian photographs from the early 1930s. The auction includes a couple of Parisian street scenes and pictures from some of the city and the period’s more colourful and spirited balls for coloured people, transvestites and homosexuals. Several of the photographs can be found in Brassaï’s groundbreaking books on Paris, 'Paris de Nuit' and 'The Secret Paris of the Thirties' respectively from 1933 and 1976. 'Paris de Nuit', which was the first of many photography books with nightlife images, was published already in 1933 - just four years after the Hungarian’s first photographic experiments, and the book is today considered one of the most influential books on photography. The book made Brassaï famous overnight, from the United States to Japan, and the volume takes the reader and viewer on a walking tour of the city's dark streets, lit only by lanterns and neon signs.

In Close Proximity to the Secrets of Paris

But Brassaï also dreamed of documenting life in the city's bars, brothels and balls – Paris's secret, the unknown life among petty criminals, prostitutes, party people, transvestites and homosexuals. Brassaï was good at making contact with both the high and low born, and he was allowed to get very close to them. One could not, however, avoid noticing him. With his glass plate camera and large flash Brassaï took up quite a lot of space, but no one knew exactly when he would push the shutter-release and let the flash go off.

The work of capturing the secret side of Paris began in connection with 'Paris de Nuit'. It took, however, more than 40 years before a comprehensive publication of the photographs, 'The Secret Life of the Thirties', was finally published. In the preceding years a number of Brassaï’s photographs had been published in some of the period's many different popular picture magazines, including VU, Picture Post, Harper’s Bazaar etc.

Kertesz, Weegee and Arbus

Brassaï’s groundbreaking photographs have been a source of inspiration for countless photographers, several of which are represented at this auction, not least the American photographer Diane Arbus, whose slightly intruding portraits were strongly inspired by Brassaï’s method and style - especially in the intimate portrait of a transvestite couple in New York in 1961. Weegee and Robert Doisneau are also famous street photographers whose work is closely related to that of Brassaï. Brassaï himself learned how to take photographs from his friend, the Hungarian master photographer André Kertesz, who is also represented at the auction, including a photograph from Kertesz’ time in Montparnasse in the mid-1920s.

Preview, Presentation and Auction

There will be a preview of all the photographs in our department in Bredgade 33 from Thursday 28 May to Monday 1 June. On Friday May 29 at 3 pm our specialist in photography, Christine Almlund, will give an introduction to Brassaï and several of the works included in the auction. The auction of photographs takes place Wednesday 10 June in Bredgade 33.

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