Review by Choice Review
A primary photographer of the 1930's, Brass"ai is receiving overdue scholarly attention. Anne Tucker's superb Brass"ai: The Eye of Paris (1999), the result of 15 years of research, is now nicely complemented by Sayag's monograph with essays by Brass"ai, six friends, and scholars (with references to Tucker). The essays represent (as do those in Tucker) the many facets and media of this photographer's career; his writings are essential to understanding his very prolific production of images, texts, and objects of art. A brilliant and voracious reader (endlessly notating the margins of his books), he had an indefatigable curiosity regarding humanity--especially humanity at the margins of 1930's bohemian life in Paris. Both books benefited from access to Estate Brass"ai (Mme. Gilberte Brass"ai). Nevertheless, Sayag was favored with permission to use and cite material from the Brass"ai archives, while Tucker (curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) was prohibited from citing anything she learned from those archives. Fortunately they together make an excellent two-volume reference set, providing a rich textual and visual understanding of a man child whose life and work were intoxicated by living, loving, and hobnobbing with major artists and writers of the time. Both contain tools for further research: exhibition catalog, bibliography, chronology, etc. General readers; undergraduates and up. C. Chiarenza; emeritus, University of Rochester
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The first photograph in this definitive volume of photographer Brassai's now classic work is a self-portrait dated 1932^-34. Standing in black-tie, camera in hand, the Transylvania-born artist gazes with large, widely spaced, hawkish eyes; ferocious eyes, patient eyes, eyes that shine in the dark. Brassai(1899^-1984) came to Paris in 1924 and worked as a journalist before picking up the camera in 1929 to take pictures of the city he'd come to love in the depths of night when streetwalkers and gangsters ruled. In these perfectly framed portraits and cityscapes, artificial light is rendered divine, black is life itself, and beauty is discerned in the humblest of settings. Brassai's creativity and adoration of everything human also led him to make sculptures and engravings, to write, and to befriend artists and writers, many of whom he photographed, and all are showcased here. And, in addition to their own expert commentary, the editors have included an essay by Brassai's friend Henry Miller. Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
The Museum National d'Art Moderne's Brassa Collection, which until recently added up to 3000 items, has been greatly enhanced by more than 2000 original photographic prints, drawings, sculptures, and documents deposited there by Gilberte Brassa, the artist's widow, who also helped put together this catalog. To show off the new holdings and mark the centenary of the artist's birth, the museum recently sponsored an exhibition, with curators Sayag and Lionel-Marie scouring the holdings to demonstrate the breadth of Brassa's work in different media. France's most renowned photographer, dubbed the "eye of Paris" by his friend Henry Miller, the Romanian-born Brassa has been compared to Toulouse-Lautrec in his choice of subject matter and the voyeuristic quality of many of his photographs. But along with these nocturnal views of streetwalkers, gangsters, and lovers, there are pictures of people shopping, a family picnic on the Marne, and portraits of Brassa's famous peers. Reprinting a number of never-before-published images, this is surely the most complete work available on Brassa. Essential for all photography collections.DJoseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
