Brassai. Brassai: A Major Exhibition. The Photographer's Gallery, London, November 1979.

Essays by Sue Davies and Bill Brandt. Wraps, 16 pages, 13 full page illustrations. As new, an exceptionally fine copy. Summary:

Brassaï: A Major Exhibition (also titled Brassaï: A Major Retrospective) was a landmark survey of the Hungarian-French photographer's career, presented at The Photographers' Gallery in London in November 1979.

Overview & Highlights

• Organization: The exhibition was curated by The Photographers' Gallery and accompanied by a 16-page catalogue featuring a foreword by gallery founder Sue Davies.

• Critical Commentary: Included introductory texts and reflections by British master photographer Bill Brandt, who praised Brassaï’s poetic and atmospheric vision.

• Exhibition Scope: Surveyed Brassaï’s career with a strong focus on his classic 1930s nocturnal series Paris de Nuit(Paris by Night), intimate portraits of avant-garde artists and writers, and street scenes documenting the atmospheric urban life of Paris.

Brassaï (1899–1984) (born Gyula Halász in Brassó, Transylvania) was a Hungarian-French photographer, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker who became one of the defining visual chroniclers of 20th-century Paris. After studying fine arts in Budapest and Berlin, he moved to Paris in 1924, working as a journalist and artist before taking up photography around 1929 under the influence of André Kertész. Dubbed "the eye of Paris" by his close friend Henry Miller, Brassaï gained international acclaim with his seminal 1933 photobook Paris de nuit (Paris by Night), which pioneered low-light nocturnal photography and offered an empathetic, unsentimental look into the city's underworld, high society, and bohemian artist circles. Throughout his career, he seamlessly bridged journalism, fine art, and literature, producing celebrated portraits, avant-garde surrealist imagery, and landmark documentary studies until his death in 1984.