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Art of the 20th Century
A Revolution in the Arts
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Art Styles
in 20th century Art Map
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Brassai

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Brassai (Gyula Halasz)
(b Brasso, Transylvania, Hungary [now Romania], 9 Sept 1899; d
Nice, 8 July 1984).
French photographer, draughtsman, sculptor and writer of Hungarian birth.
The son of a Hungarian professor of French literature, he lived in Paris
in 1903–4 while his father was on sabbatical there, and this early
experience of the city greatly impressed him. In 1917 he met the composer
Béla Bartók, and from 1918 to 1919 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts
in Budapest. Due to the hostility between Hungary and France in World War
I he was unable to study in France and so moved to Berlin in late 1920.
There he became acquainted with László Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky and
Kokoschka and in 1921–2 attended the Akademische Hochschule in
Charlottenburg, Berlin. He was a keen draughtsman and while there produced
a series of characteristic drawings of nudes executed in an angular,
emphatic style. In 1924 he moved to Paris, where he quickly became
involved with the artists and poets of the Montmartre and Montparnasse
districts while supporting himself as a journalist. In 1925 he adopted the
name Brassai, derived from that of his native town, and throughout that
year he continued drawing as well as making sculptures. In 1926 he met
André Kertész, who introduced him to photography. In 1930 Brassai began
taking photographs of Paris at night, concentrating on its architecture
and the nocturnal activities of its inhabitants. These were collected and
published as Paris de nuit in 1933 and showed the night workers,
cafés, brothels, theatres, streets and buildings of the capital. The
artificial lighting created strong tonal contrasts, lending the images a
strikingly evocative beauty. Some of his photographs were included in the
exhibition Modern European Photographers at the Julien Levy Gallery
in New York in 1932, and the following year at the Arts et Métiers
Graphiques in Paris he had a one-man show of his photographs of Paris,
which travelled to the Batsford Gallery in London the same year.
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Passion Graffiti
1939
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Swastika Graffiti
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Transmutation NO. VIII "Tentation de
Saint Antoine"
1934-50
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Sevillance Denudee from the series: Transmutations
1934
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Offrande from the series: Transmutations
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Femme aux voiles from the series: Transmutations
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Fete Foraine
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Miro dans son atelier a Barcelone
1955

Henri Matisse and his model
1939

Washing in Brothel
1932

Untitled
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Seville en fete
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Untitled (serie VIII, La Magie)
1935-1950
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Girls doing gymnastics
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Pont Neuf in Paris
1932
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Picasso at Cafe Flore
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Paris, Canal Saint-Martin
1931
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L'entree du bal Tabarin
1932
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Homosexual Couple at Magic City Ball,
Paris
1932
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Un Couple le
bal des Quat’z Arts
1931
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L'Oiseau de
feu'aux Folies Bergeres
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A Monastic
Brothel, Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, Quartier Latin
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Rome Metro Station
1933-1934
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Beggar in the Metro, Paris
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Conchita's Dance, Boulevard
Auguste-Blanqui
1931
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Untitled
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Little Ballerina Checks the Hem of Her Tutu
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Paper clips
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Still Life at the Six-Day Cycle Race at
the Velodrome d'Hiver
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Wave on the Cote Nicoise
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Linge, Megeve
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Neige au jardin du Luxembourg
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L'amour du marin
1932
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Untitled
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Prostitute
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Fille derričre le rideau
1932
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Chez Suzy
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Prostitute
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