Brassai Paris By Night [Hardcover]

Paul Morand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2001

Roaming Paris streets by night in the early 1930s, Brassa created arresting images of the city's dramatic nocturnal landscape. First published in French in 1932, this new edition brings one of Brassa's finest works back into print. The back alleys, metro stations, and bistros he photographed are at turns hauntingly empty or peopled by prostitutes, laborers, thugs, and lovers. "Paris by Night" is a stunning portrait of nighttime in the City of Light, as captured by its most articulate observer. 62 photos.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

One of the most important and influential photographers of the twentieth century, Brassai (1899-1984) moved to Paris from Hungary in 1924. He is best known for chronicling the city in the 1930s and for his portraits of artists such as Picasso and Matisse, and writers including Henry Miller. His fifty-year artistic career also encompassed drawing, sculpture, writing, and filmmaking.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Flammarion (July 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2080105914
• ISBN-13: 978-2080105912
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 10.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,487,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Printing process, December 17, 2003

By 

Thor Simon (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brassai : Paris By Night (Hardcover)

This book was conceived and executed around a specific printing process, heliogravure. The original 1933 edition, if you could find it, which would be quite a feat, would look very much like the Pantheon edition published about a decade ago, and have many of the features of the current edition that some reviewers find objectionable: matte paper, black borders, strange tonality when compared to traditionally printed work. That's why the Pantheon edition, which some of the leading figures in modern printing and photography worked on, was such a landmark, and why the cheaply printed editions between the original and that one were junk -- and gave people a very serious misapprehension of how Brassai wanted his work to look.

Unfortunately, an attempt to reproduce the characteristic look of heliogravure using a more conventional printing process is a pretty tall order. If you don't like the way this edition looks, and you very well may not, see if you can find a library that has a copy of the Pantheon edition and compare them. You'll be amazed that the aspects of this edition's printing that you found objectionable actually make _that_ edition beautiful and unique.

It is a shame that Amazon does not even list the Pantheon edition so that it cannot be searched for as a used book -- and that the current publisher deceptively printed an edition that looks superficially like heliogravure but is not.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality Issues? Let's be clear., September 19, 2001

By 

Michael Weston (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brassai : Paris By Night (Hardcover)

It is possible that the latest edition has failed to explain why the format for the images is appropriate. I have the 1987 Pantheon edition. The new edition looks like a fairly exact copy of my 1987 copy by Pantheon. That book takes as its model the 1933 first edition. The images are matte because the original and the Pantheon are heliogravure prints, a matte process. (It is also likely that Brassai's original prints lack the hi-gloss sheen common to modern magazine printing and plastic-coated photographic paper. I have nothing but pity for those who cannot appreciate such a process and yearn for something like today's glossy magazines.) The quarter-inch gloss frame arond the images is a feature of the Panthon edition, as well (and the '33?). This new book looks (on superficial viewing) like a faithful effort on the part of the publisher. Now- someone offer an A to B comparrison, please.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reproduction quality is an insult to Brassai, December 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Brassai : Paris By Night (Hardcover)

One only has to compare the nicely reproduced dust jacket photo to the print of it in the book to see the amount of detail that is lost in the rest of these images. Even the thumbails in the back next to the writeups show more detail than the muddied out larger vesions in the book. Brassai's images are so great that even muddied up like this they are worth looking at, but what a shame the publisher didn't do better. Shame, shame, shame.