BRASSAI — GAUTRAND (Jean-Claude). Brassaï. 1899–1984. Brassa - Lot 47

BRASSAI — GAUTRAND (Jean-Claude). Brassaï. 1899–1984. Brassaï the Universal. Cologne, Taschen, 2004. In-4 (approx. 25 × 20 cm), 192 pp., paperback with illustrated softcover, numerous black-and-white photographic reproductions. Text in French, English, and German. ISBN 3-8228-3137-9. The 192-page collation and the 2004 Taschen edition are confirmed by several bibliographic catalogs. An important monograph dedicated to Brassaï (1899–1984), one of the great photographers of 20th-century Paris. Jean-Claude Gautrand traces Brassaï’s entire career here, from his famous photographs of Paris by night in the 1930s to his portraits of artists, his explorations of graffiti, and his more experimental works. The book is organized into major sections: Minotaure, Paris by Night, Secret Paris, Daytime Visions, Artists and Friends, Graffiti, and Transmutations. It brings together a particularly extensive selection of Brassaï’s photographs and concludes with a biography, a list of his exhibitions, and a bibliography. The views of Paris at night naturally form the heart of the volume: deserted streets, cafés, dance halls, hotels, artisans, and figures from Parisian nightlife. Here we find that very distinctive light that made Brassaï one of the leading photographic interpreters of Paris between the two world wars. A copy in very good overall condition, with the cover intact and only slight signs of wear.