Brassai: The Monograph

Boston, New York, London: Little, Brown and Company; A Bullfinch Press Book, 2000. Cloth, 319 pages, illustrations (some colour); 32 cm. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Stated First United States Edition. Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. OVERSIZE! No priority/air, except by special arrangement. Profusely illustrated. "Here are Brassai's iconic scenes of nocturnal Paris with its prostitutes and thugs, its night workers, cafes, dance halls, and theaters; here are the fog-shrouded streets, monuments, and bridges; and here is the literary and artistic elite of the Parisian avant-garde, whom Brassai counted among his friends. Alongside these images, and providing a deeper understanding of his working method, are many previously unpublished contact prints and variations of familiar shots taken from a different angle, differently framed, or as part of a sequence that constitutes a veritable short story on film. Beyond these, there are examples of Brassai's nude studies and magnifications of commonplace objects, the engraved photographic plates that he called "transmutations," his drawings and sculpted pebbles, the graffiti he found so fascinating - indeed, everything to which he turned his imaginative mind throughout a long, productive life." - Publisher. CONTENTS: Preface, by Jean-Jacques Aillagon; Brassai: The Darkness and the Quarry, by Werner Spies; The Expression of Authenticity, by Alain Sayag; Paris after dark, 1932; Minotaure, 1933-1939; Letting the Eye Be Light, by Annick Lionel-Marie; 'Cahier Jaune' (extracts), by Brassai; 'The Eye of Paris', by Henry Miller; Brassai and Henry Miller, by Annick Lionel-Marie; Brassai and Henri Michaux, by Annick Lionel-Marie; Drawings and sculptures, 1946; 'Brassai', poem, by Jacques Prevert; Sculptures, by Brassai; Brassai and Literature, by Roger Grenier; Transmutations, by Brassai; Camera in Paris, 1949; Preface to Camera in Paris, by Brassai; Interview With Gilberte Brassai, by Annick Lionel-Marie; Graffiti, 1960; 'From Cave Wall to Factory Wall', by Brassai.. 1st. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 4to. Collectible.