Brassaï
Brassai (1899 – 1984)was born Gyula Halász on September 9, 1899 in Brassó, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary [Present Day Romania] and died July 8, 1984, in France. The Hungarian-born French photographer was primarily known for capturing his dramatic photographs of Paris at night. Looking at these upcoming photos, you can see that by today’s standards may seem kind of lackluster in a way, but during the 1930s, where a lot of his famous “Paris at Night” Photos were taken, Film and Glass Emulsions were nowhere near as high as they are today, in terms of sensitivity. So the High Contrast shooting he did was not very easy. During this presentation, you can see a 5-year gap in his work, which was due to the Greman occupation of France during World War II. During the war, Brassai fled to the French Riviera to escape, however he did end up coming back to Paris to rescue the negatives he had hidden. Throughout his life, Brassai has developed techniques and methods to shoot in very dark places while using what little light available to define his photos.
Place de la Concorde , ca. 1932
Bibliography:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Brassai
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/brassai/
http://www.artnet.com/artists/brassa%C3%AF/10