【A recommended book】Brassai, Paris

When you meet the man you see at once that he is equipped with no ordinary eyes. And the sharpness of vision and depth of insight are revealed in Brassai’s lifelong photographic exploration of Paris – its people, places, and things.
——Henry Miller on French photographer Brassai.


最近買的幾本書：Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson、Paris Changing: Revisiting Eugene Atget’s Paris、Paris: Eugene Atget、Brassai, Paris，以及列在追蹤清單上的 Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Propos De Paris、Robert Doisneau Paris、Man Ray in Paris，都是跟「巴黎」及「攝影」相關的書籍。
其中「Taschen 出版社二十五週年紀念版」作品系列的 Brassai, Paris，精選不少 George Brassai 的作品，正是本文想要推薦的攝影集，而這位匈牙利籍的攝影師吸引我的主因，除了他那知名的巴黎夜景攝影之外，更重要的是他寫了一本 Proust in the Power of Photography。至於這本跟普魯斯特相關的書就留待另一篇文章再敘。


“As a photographer, I never restricted myself to a particular subject. I photographed whatever happened to catch my attention: faces, street scenes, landscapes, or any one of the thousands of chance events of everyday life. Art and artists were a part of my own day-to-day life in Paris.”
——Brassai.

Brassai, Paris 這本攝影集，並沒有按照作品拍攝年代的時間順序介紹而是依不同主題分類，其中包含了〈Brassai's Universal Art〉、〈Minotaure magazine〉、〈Paris by Night〉、〈Secret Paris〉、〈Day Visions〉、〈Artists of My Life〉、〈Graffiti and Transmutations〉。
而在〈Artists of My Life〉這一主題中的人物攝影，我想對於20世紀現代的作家及藝術家有興趣的讀者，勢必都會震慑於 Brassai 如此豐沛的人際關係：畢卡索、馬諦斯、達利、傑克梅第、雷捷、布拉克、弗拉德、沙特、波娃、貝克特、惹內、賈克·普維、亨利·米勒、湯瑪斯·曼…一一都留下了難能可貴的歷史鏡頭。

另外再欣賞以下幾張照片，我相信這位在半個世紀前成名的攝影師的作品，再過半個世紀一樣歷久彌新。

最後，摘要網路書店的內容簡介、Customer Reviews，以及維基百科有關 Brassai 的介紹，謹作為推薦這本書的補充資料供參。

http://www.eslite.com/product.aspx?pgid=1002167381802774
Brassai, Paris
作者  ／  GAUTRAND, JEAN-CLAUDE
出版社 ／ TASCHEN UK
出版日期 ／ 2008/01/01
商品語言 ／ 英文
裝訂 ／ 精裝


內容簡介
Brassai (1899-1984) 是二十世紀最重要、最具影響力的攝影家之一。他出身於匈牙利Brasso，這也是他化名 Brassai 的由來。他在 1924 年到巴黎發展，自此愛上夜色中的巴黎，而拍攝了一系列巴黎夜景的作品，他的作品中包含各種不同面相五光十色、燈紅酒綠的巴黎夜生活，也包含了冷冽淒清的街頭景象，捕捉了這座不夜城的各種景象。這些作品不僅廣受歡迎、他的首部攝影集《Paris at Night》迅速銷售一空，他也因此被稱為「夜間攝影鼻祖」，自此奠定了他攝影大師的地位。他最為人知的作品除了夜間巴黎攝影之外，另有極為經典的藝術家人像攝影，包括畢卡索、馬諦斯等大師都曾入鏡。他的創作領域除了攝影之外，還包括繪畫、雕塑、影片製作以及寫作。

本書是 Brassai 的作品精選，除了夜間巴黎，還包括日景、藝術家人像、其它塗鴉及繪畫、他為雜誌拍攝的照片等等，並有專文描述大師的生平及作品。收錄內容極為廣泛而助有代表性，本書是了解 Brassai 作品及風格的最佳參考書籍，也是探索舊巴黎風采、攝影愛好者不能錯過的精采攝影輯。


http://www.amazon.com/review/R21QW3L2QT7VUL/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=3836503891&nodeID=283155&store=books
Customer Reviews
Best Single Collection of Brassai Images, June 8, 2008
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This volume contains some pictures from all or at least most of Brassai's books including LES SCULPTURES DE PICASSO, GRAFFITI, PICASSO & CO., HENRY MILLER: GRANDEUR NATURE and THE ARTISTS OF MY LIFE. Brassai, who was also an accomplished artist in several mediums, was a member of the Bohemian Montparnasse or what I call the "Camelot of Art." He was friends with most of the artists and writers of the period. Much of his early photography was to document them and their work for publication. He was their contemporary and while his non-photography work is also masterful, it was photography that was to make him famous.
…This is the best Brassai book to own if you are only going to have one of his published photographic collections….


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassa%C3%AF
George Brassaï (pseudonym of Gyula Halász) (9 September 1899 – 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous Hungarian artists who flourished in Paris beginning between the World Wars. In the early 21st century, the discovery of more than 200 letters and hundreds of drawings and other items from the period 1940-1984 has provided scholars with material for understanding his later life and career.
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Brassai's photographs brought him international fame. In 1948 he had a one-man show in the United States at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, which traveled to the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. MOMA exhibited more of Brassai's works in 1953, 1956, and 1968. He was presented at the Rencontres d'Arles festival (France) in 1970 (screening at the Théâtre Antique, "Brassaï" by Jean-Marie Drot), in 1972 (screening "Brassaï si, Vominino" by René Burri), and in 1974 (as guest of honour).