Originally trained as an artist, Brassaï turned to photography in a feverish attempt to capture the fugitive scenes he encountered during his night walks in Paris. He relished that, as he put it, “night does not show things, it suggests them.” Yet the darkness Brassaï adored also rendered photography challenging, necessitating half-hour exposure times. The transition from gas to electric lamplight illuminated Parisian avenues and bridges, transformed residents’ experience of the city at night, and enabled a nocturnal culture to flourish. Even the equestrian racecourse at Longchamp was fitted with floodlights for nighttime reveling. Brassaï called these photographs “little boxes of night.”
Exhibition title
2021 Fall 5th
Gallery label from 2021