Couple d'amoureux dans un petit café, quartier Italie
Born in Brasso, Transylvania, Gyula Halász took the name of his birthplace as a pseudonym in l932, when he had lived in Paris for six years working as an illustrator and correspondent for Hungarian and German newspapers. In 1929, after accompanying the expatriate Hungarian photographer André Kertész on assignment, Brassaï decided to take up photography himself.
In this photograph, Brassaï's compositional skill is evident in the way he has framed his subjects, each lover's gaze reflected in a mirror. Such artifice and formal elegance, rather than the harsh realities of photographic realism, were of supreme importance to him. Indeed, this and many of his photographs were staged, leading to a complicity between photographer and subject that adds to the picture's sophistication and playfulness.
In this photograph, Brassaï's compositional skill is evident in the way he has framed his subjects, each lover's gaze reflected in a mirror. Such artifice and formal elegance, rather than the harsh realities of photographic realism, were of supreme importance to him. Indeed, this and many of his photographs were staged, leading to a complicity between photographer and subject that adds to the picture's sophistication and playfulness.
Artwork Details
- Title: Couple d'amoureux dans un petit café, quartier Italie
- Artist: Brassaï (French (born Romania), Brașov 1899–1984 Côte d'Azur)
- Date: ca. 1932, printed mid-1960s
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 28.3 x 22.7 cm (11 1/8 x 8 15/16 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Warner Communications Inc. Purchase Fund, 1980
- Object Number: 1980.1023.5
- Rights and Reproduction: © Estate Brassaï Succession – Paris
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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