Customer Reviews

Brassai : Paris By Night

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Little, Brown and Company needs to do something about their quality control. This is the second book I have obtained that is published by them and has had a problem. My copy of this book had a tear near the binding, even though it was received brand new in the sealed wrap. Another Little, Brown and Company title I purchased brand new, '2 Times Into' by Michael Stipe, began falling apart after only one reading!

The content of this book is great. It's a dark book as it should be, for it depicts the night. The photographs urge you to want to look deeper. In viewing these photographs, I long to hear the mysterious stories behind them, and the conditions under which they were taken.

Modern day high speed film did not exist back in the '30s, so I assume long exposures were used for many of the shots. Yet most images evoke a real slice of nightlife feel to them, rather than anything contrived or artificially set up. Each photograph stands on it's own, and yet the entire compilation represented here equals more than the sum of it's parts.

There are only 60 some images represented here and the book is too expensive, but the presentation is appropriate to the subject matter and the book dimensions are suitable for good study.

This book is very important. Paris By Night by Brassai is a book that is central in the history of photograhy.It has been a great inspiration for many photograhers (and others).
It is a shame, that this edition is very badly printed (loss of detail).
I am sorry to say, that therefore the book is too exspensive.
I bought the book anyway. Why?
Because I wanted to have it on my shell. To study it. And because it reminds me of the first time, twenty years ago, when I saw some of the pictures from Paris By Night, and found that photograpy could be a great art.

I've never seen an earlier edition of this book so I don't know how they were printed. This new edition definately has a couple problems. The photos are reproduced on matte paper so they don't have the sharp detail of other Brassai books. The borders are a quarter inch of jet black while the pages are matte black to the edges. This is not the best way to set off the photographs. Many of them seem to get lost in the dark, and the ink has a strong unpleasant smell. This is however still an amazing book, and will remain in my collection. It is worth the work it takes to study the pictures. My reservations about the book itself certainly do not carry over to the photos. Brassai may have been the first photographer to fully understand the night, and he has taught us all to "see" in the dark.

From dark empty streets and extraordinary architecture, to nighttime laborers and eccentric bar hoppers - Brassaļ's 1933 Paris by Night is a beautiful compilation that captures the wide dynamic of nightlife in 1930s Paris. This stunning collection gives the viewer a true glimpse of the people and places of late night Paris. While obviously taken over an extended period, Brassaļ manages to encapsulate a genuine, broad esthetic of Parisian nightlife in a way that his images end up being viewed as one collective, seamless reflection.
The 1987 edition - published through Pantheon - is a gorgeous presentation of his original imagery that extends through his photographs and into the appearance of the pages themselves. The amount of care that went into the presentation of this collection is simply spectacular. In an effort to stay true to Brassaļ's original vision, the book is printed in Photogravure - a difficult printing technique rarely seen in modern photographic presentations. Thankfully, Pantheon took both the time and effort needed in order to enhance the viewing of these images - and the quality shows. With rich blacks and a wide range of tones, one can't help but thoroughly investigate each and every image with particular care.
Furthering the feel of a true reproduction, this particular edition includes the original forward by French poet Paul Morand, who depicts the personality of the city and its people of the night.
My only qualms with this edition are the stylings of both the forward and comment contact sheets. While the justification of the forward's text visually matches with both the shape and size of images further inside, its large, visually intrusive text seems a bit unconsidered when coupled with the rest of the book. In turn, the full eleven-page comments and contact sheet section is just as chaotic. Its unaligned text wrapping and erratic photo placement disrupts a potential flowing introduction to a striking collection.

To a certain extent, I agree with Tony Spadaro about the quality of the paper, but one needs to see through that to admire and appreciate the photos. I just wish I had poster sized versions of them all, then I could sit and look at them for hours. They talk to me, and I can imagine standing with him when he took the photos. An excellent book overall.

Brassai was probably more responsible than most for generating the noir genre associated with Paris but that, I think, was a function of his equipment. The deserted streets could be a factor of the five minute exposure while the close up shots of the street workers, of all occupations would have been necessary because of the lack of electronic flash. When looking at his pictures, we must be careful to pass them back through the filter of his time. BUT, that same filter has given us some beautifully composed images. There are no accidents. Thus, as well as a wonderful collection of very evocative images, the book can act as a reminder of the importance in engaging the intellect to make such images.

is a pleasure to learn how to use available light with the craftmanship of Brassai's pictures of Paris by night with all the life of those years !!