Brassaï: ‘Fog in Paris. Léon-Paul Fargue’s taxi, circa 1932 (photo of the photo: Alessandro Tich)
This original alternative to the light meter implemented by one of the masters of 20th century photography was revealed to me by his nephew and scholar, Philippe Ribeyrolles.
Ribeyrolles is the curator, together with Barbara Guidi, of the exhibition “Brassaï. The eye of Paris”, set up on the two floors of the Civic Gallery of the Civic Museum of Bassano del Grappa, organized in collaboration with the Estate Brassaï Succession of Paris and with Silvana Editoriale and open to the public from tomorrow until 21 April 2025.
But there were also other “expometers” thanks to which the artist of the shot was able to capture the nuances of the Parisian darkness, as Monsieur Philippe tells me again: “They were his friends for illuminating the subject: the lamplighters, the mists, car headlights.”
This was how Brassaï managed to accomplish and perfect his great visual feat: immortalizing the shadows of the Ville Lumière, the city of lights.
Brassaï was the stage name of Gyula Halász (1899 – 1984), Hungarian by birth, naturalized Frenchman and Parisian by adoption. He was born in Brassó, in Hungarian Transylvania, today Brașov in Romania, and his pseudonym literally means “from Brassó”.
Over 200 of his black and white photographs are on display in Bassano, as well as sculptures, documents and objects that belonged to the photographer.
And they are all original vintage photographic prints, made by the author himself, as a further seal of his art.
For a true black and white photographer, printing is not simply the transposition onto photographic paper of the frame collected on the plate or film: it is an integral part of the composition of the image, its completion and finishing, with further plays of light and of shadows made possible through the projection of the negative from the enlarger onto the paper, in the darkroom, once the development process is finished.
The exhibition thus presents the many faces of Paris and its varied humanity, captured by Brassaï’s eye: the city of slums and working-class neighborhoods, of fashion and nightlife, of homeless people and prostitutes in slippers, of “bad boys ” and lovers, “illusions” (the closed houses) and graffiti on the walls.
There is one wall in the exhibition that is extraordinary: it includes photographic portraits, again of course Parisian styleof his artist and intellectual friends.
Jean Cocteau, Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jacques Prévert, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalì and his “lifelong friend” Pablo Picasso. Just to name a few.
It’s like seeing the movie again Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen, where the protagonist, on holiday in Paris, finds himself mysteriously catapulted into the past and meets the great artists, writers and intellectuals who lived in the Ville Lumière of the time, including Cocteau, Braque, Miller, Matisse, Dalì themselves and Picasso.
What can I say? It’s a nice one Midnight in Bassano.
And bed of kings of great occasions speaks at the press conference to present the Brassaï exhibition in the Chilesotti room of the Civic Museum.
The presentation for the media is also combined with the presentation of another exhibition which opens at the same time, entitled “Barricades”, set up in the room dedicated to temporary exhibitions of the Civic Museum, curated by Elena Forin, open to the public until 12 January and dedicated to the young Venetian artist Laura Omacini.
I will deal with this, obviously, in a separate article. Because each article is like a photograph: it must frame one subject at a time.
In introducing the speeches, the mayor Nicola Finco, given the importance of the photographic exhibition, says he is “excited”. He reminds me of his predecessor.
“Bassano is a point of reference not only regionally and nationally, but also internationally from a cultural and photography point of view – declares the mayor -. We will invest a lot in the theme of culture in these years.”
“With this exhibition, photography returns to be the protagonist, thanks also to the photographic exhibitions of recent years in our Civic Museum – states the councilor for Culture Giada Pontarollo -. The exhibition allows you to relive the atmosphere of the places and of an era, with over 200 original photos printed by the author himself.”
“It is a unique and unmissable opportunity for the city of Bassano, with a great master of 20th century photography – remarks the curator of the exhibition and director of the Civic Museums Barbara Guidi -. Only great artists are able to change the direction of art and Brassaï was one of these, capable not only of reproducing but of transforming reality.”
“Paris is a seductive and elusive city, which he manages to grasp like few others – he continues -. Three themes emerge: Paris at night, with which the photographer stages the spectacle of the night; surrealism, in which objects move from the plane of reality to a symbolic plane, and graffiti. Brassaï understood the poetry of the ugly, of street art.”
In short, it is the “secret Paris of the 30s and 40s”, presented “in an exhibition conceived for this Museum”, as noted by the general director of Silvana Editoriale Michele Pizzi.
“My uncle was truly a character, imaginative and whimsical – says his nephew and curator of the exhibition Philippe Ribeyrolles -. He was also an eclectic artist and not just a photographer: musician, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, journalist. Passing on his work is a family passion, which becomes a time eater.”
The Brassaï exhibition already has a precedent: from February 23rd to June 2nd it was set up at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
“This one from Bassano is not a photocopy of the previous exhibition – specifies Ribeyrolles -. Each place has its own soul, its own structure and it is a joy to adapt, we recompose the rooms based on what this place inspired us.”
As his nephew and scholar reports, Brassaï was a strollersomeone who loved to stroll idly through the streets of Paris. For this reason he defines the exhibition itself as “an intimate walk” and invites the public to “walk” among the photographs to take “a walk through time, into another life”.
“The journey begins with the first photos from 1929 of the places in Paris that he remembered from a visit to him as a child – continues the curator -. Then the daytime Paris of the 1930s, the first nocturnal flashes and then the iconic photos of Paris at night, the secret Paris of pleasures, the Paris-Canaille (Paris-Canaglia, literally, Ed.)”.
“On the first floor of the exhibition – explains his nephew – we find surrealism which for him was “the taste for the unusual” and graffiti, one of the cornerstones of his work. It was a precursor of street art, for the first time an attempt was made to give meaning to graffiti.”
Thank you so much.
Finally, there is one more note in my notepad which on the sidelines of the Brassaï exhibition concerns the programming of the Civic Museums for the coming year.
“For 2025 we are working on a large exhibition that will start in autumn – reveals the Councilor for Culture Giada Pontarollo -. It will concern an artist linked to the mountains and landscapes and will be proposed on the occasion of the next Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.”
The councilor does not say more, because it is not yet time for official announcements, even if he has disclosed some clues in this regard.
Which artist linked to “the mountains” and “landscapes” could be the protagonist of the major exhibition in the works for autumn next year?
All I have to do is rely on my crystal ball, which I haven’t used for some time.
I pronounce the magic formula “Hocus Tichus” and behold, in the time of a cigarette, something begins to take shape in the crystal ball. They are dots and dashes of color that ultimately make up two enigmatic letters: GS.
Could it perhaps be Giovanni Segantini?
