Nude

Brassaï French, born Romania (Transylvania)

1931–34

Not on view

One of the most radically abstract of Brassaï’s nudes, this image was published in 1933 in the inaugural issue of the avant-garde magazine Minotaure. With the figure’s head and legs cut off by the picture’s edges, the twisting, truncated torso seems to float in space like an apparition—an ambiguous, organic form with an uncanny resemblance to a phallus. This transformation of the female figure into a fetish object is a hallmark of Surrealism that reflects the important influence of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory on European art of the early twentieth century.

Artwork Details

Title: Nude
Artist: Brassaï (French (born Romania), Brașov 1899–1984 Côte d'Azur)
Date: 1931–34
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 14.1 x 23.5 cm (5 9/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2007
Object Number: 2007.226
Rights and Reproduction: © Estate Brassaï Succession – Paris
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

Couple d'amoureux dans un petit café, quartier Italie, Brassaï French, born Romania (Transylvania), Gelatin silver print — Couple d'amoureux dans un petit café, quartier Italie
Brassaï
ca. 1932, printed mid-1960s

Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome, Henri-Joseph Harpignies French, Pen and black ink, brush, gray and blue-gray washes — Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome
Henri-Joseph Harpignies
1856

[Landscape], Marie-Charles-Isidore Choiselat French, Daguerreotype — [Landscape]
Marie-Charles-Isidore Choiselat
Stanislas Ratel
1844

La Colonne Morris dans le Brouillard, Brassaï French, born Romania (Transylvania), Gelatin silver print — La Colonne Morris dans le Brouillard
Brassaï
1932, printed ca. 1960

Violin or Viola Bow, Brazilwood, other materials, French — Violin or Viola Bow
French
late 19th or early 20th century

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