Was Brassa誰 a Postmodernist in a Modern Era? A Discussion on his Content and Style in relation to a Postmodern Perspective.
Alice Hammerton N0330978 DAVC110033
Was Brassaï a Postmodernist in a Modern Era? When defining what is ‘Postmodern’, there is not simply one approach or once criteria, which can or should be followed. ‘One of the difficulties, but also perhaps one of the strengths, of Postmodernism is its sense of fluidity and open-endedness’ (Ward 1997: Preface). Particularly when concerning images, there can often be a vast difference in what could be considered as a postmodern ‘style’ or characteristics, when compared to the already ambiguous postmodern timeframe. ‘Opinions differ as to whether postmodernism is a period, a set of styles, or a broader set of politics and ideologies.’ (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 311). This essay will aim to discuss the work and characteristics of photographer Brassaï, an artist of a typically Modern timeframe, mostly active in Paris through the 1930s to the 1960s, examining the aesthetics and motives of his controversial images in relation to a potentially postmodern viewpoint. Looking at prominent themes in Brassaï’s work, including risqué subjects such as prostitution, homosexuality, racial mixing and drug-use, along with compositional expressions conveying voyeurism and experimentation into Surrealist styles, we can consider and attempt to determine whether or not an early postmodern intention was in place in Brassaï’s work, even during his ‘modern’ times. Today, Brassaï’s place in the history of photography is well and truly cemented. Referred to as “the eye of Paris” by his contemporary fellows Picasso and Henry Miller, when he moved there in February of 1924 from his too-small hometown of Brasso in Hungary, Brassaï was bewitched by his new surroundings and soon began roaming the streets by night with his new friend and fellow photographer Eugène Atget. “When you meet the man you see at once that he is equipped with no ordinary eyes,” remarks friend and writer Henry Miller of his contemporary, Brassaï (Miller in Anon online: photo-seminars.com). When Brassaï began photographing nocturnal Paris in the early 1930s, his style and intention was that of a simple documenter and chronicler of the modern city, a straightforward record of lonely streetlamps in the mist and damp paving stones, typical of the modern times and attitudes towards realism that he was living in. His first successful publication Fig 1. Boulevards at the Place de la Opera, Paris de Nuit Brassaï (1933) (Paris by Night) in 1933 was a collection of 62 black and white photographs of the city, mostly consisting of dark deserted streets, or the dazzling lights of the bright new machine that was the city of Paris, the “Illuminated City”.
Fig 2. Rue des Ursins, Eugène Atget (1923)
These earlier photographs share many more similarities with the work of his modernist photographer friend Atget than the works of his which were published later in his career. These two images clearly show an element of basic observation and documentation. In Figures 1 and 2, shot by Brassaï and Atget respectively, we can see two street scenes in a modernizing Paris, shot with the practical structural approach of modernism, providing a historical snap-shot and realist insight into this pivotal moment in time where old was being transformed into new.
Throughout his career as a photographer and artist, Brassaï dabbled in many different areas of the arts, with many different objectives and reasons. He was greatly influenced by Atget at the beginning of his career as a photographer, but soon began to find his own way as his nocturnal rambles in the city lead him off in an unexpected direction. It is this new direction perhaps which is the “spark” that ignites Brassaï’s postmodern journey, a journey that has had a great impact in many areas of the arts. He has remained an incredibly strong influence and presence in the world of photography today because of this, and in particular fashion photography.
Fig 3. A Female Habituée, Brassaï (1931)
Brassaï became somewhat obsessed with the shady and exclusive underworld which he had stumbled upon, ‘I was eager to penetrate this other world, this fringe world, the secret, sinister world of mobsters, outcasts, toughs, pimps, whores, addicts, inverts’ (Brassaï 1976: 3). His exploration of taboo themes and subsequently provocative images are a development that was not in keeping with the sensible modern expectations of what was done and acceptable at the time. The publication of Brassaï’s book encasing these bold images, Le Paris secret des années 30s (The Secret Paris of the 30’s) was even delayed a good 40 years, such was the provocative and risqué nature of its images for the time. For years it was known that Brassaï had taken a series of “secret photos” of a forbidden Paris which could not be published due to their daring nature, this great delay is evidence in itself that the themes and images which Brassaï was exploring at this time were demonstrating a ‘uniquely modern perspective’ (Morand 1987: Cover), not appropriate for wider audiences until times and morals had changed. The work of this artist of the modern era in the 1930s, was not considered suitable for release until the postmodern era was in full swing in the 1970s. ‘The publication of The Secret Paris of the 30’s in 1976 allowed some of his most powerful images from this period to reach a wider audience for the firs time’ (Warehime 1996: 1). Brassaï was seduced by the secrecy that surrounded this underground world, and the people that he met along the way. With each encounter into this mysterious world he wanted to see, and photograph, more, ‘drawn by the beauty of evil, the magic of the lower depths having taken pictures for my “voyage to the end of night” from the outside, I wanted to know what went n inside’ (Brassaï 1976: 3). Figure 3 shows a female Parisian smoking in an opium den, clearly enjoying the effects of her habit as she loses herself in the night, while in Figure 4 we can see a lady of the evening boldly looking out, waiting for a customer in her ‘spring finery’. Such risqué themes as prostitution Fig 4. A Lady of the Evening near the Place d’Italie, and drugs were not typical subjects for art and Brassaï (1931) photography in the modern era.
Fig 5. Homosexual ball at Magic City, Rue Cognacq-Jay, Brassa誰 (1932)
Brassaï’s forward way of thinking and intrigue into such things puts him ahead of his time, as these are themes which have been much more freely explored and commented on in postmodern times. Brassaï realised that it is our choices in the involvement of such affairs that are significant to our identity and ideals, ‘The real night people, live at night not out of necessity, but because they want to. Te belong to a world of pleasure, of love, vice, crime, drugs. A secret, suspicious world, closed to the uninitiated.’ (Brassaï 1976: 3), just as it is his choices to photograph them which have set him apart from his contemporaries. ‘The creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalisation’ (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 16) and it is the unique choices that Brassaï made in his work which resonate themes of postmodernism. ‘In postmodernism, the body is imagined to be easily transformed: One can change one’s gender through crossdressing or surgery, one can change one’s race through changing skin tone’ (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 326), Brassaï’s images seem to embrace this ideal. He photographed many homosexual and lesbian couples, favouring their secret nighttime haunts such as Sodom and Gomorrah in Montparnasse and Le Monacle, where genders and identities were able to be made deliberately ambiguous through dress and a safe cover of darkness. Whilst speaking of a homosexual ball at “Magic City” in 1933, Brassaï speaks of the mix of attendees, ‘The cream of Parisian inverts was to meet there, without distinction as to class, race or age’, he enjoyed witnessing such freedom of identity as there was ‘no inquisitorial vice squad surveillance looking for outrages to public decency’ (Brassaï 1976: The Ball at “Magic City”). His light-hearted images of such places suggest a desire to document and bring to the public the secret joys that could be encountered if one lets loose, and the delights of a non-conventional identity. ‘In postmodernism, the modernist Fig 6. At Suzy, introductions, Brassaï (1932) faith in rationality, purity and visual honesty is replaced by playfulness, mixing and blatant artificiality’ (Ward 1997:19), in Figure 5 we can see a male couple demonstrating this playfulness and enjoying a dance, also depicting the glee that was to be found in these underground establishments, where artificiality was accepted and identity was of your own creating, such as it is in the postmodern world. Bringing these deliberately secret affairs of the city of Paris into public view, as if to force its population to confront the truth and accept these deliberately ignored truths was a very provocative at the time and could be seen as a rather postmodern push. Brassaï went on to photograph for Harpers Bazaar from 1936-63. The male-gaze and voyeuristic point of view has always been a key characteristic in fashion photography, as well as being another recurring theme in Brassaï’s work, and is certainly considered a postmodern trait. In The Secret Paris of the 30’s Brassaï includes many images of nude women and their male clientele in a chapter entitled “Houses of Illusion”. At times you the viewer are the voyeur, whilst at others the male spectator is included in the photograph and we instead observe his male gaze. Author Marja Warehime points out that as well as in The Secret Paris, we see the most persistent presences of this voyeuristic nature in his books Voluptés de
Paris. ‘In the photographs of Voluptés the masculine spectator is a far more insistent presence (figuring in a quarter of the photographs), and serves to define the provocative nature of the image.’ (Warehime 1996: 110). This theme of confrontationally insistent nudity, and a comment on the roles of males and females and the relationship between them is paramount in photography today, particularly fashion photography, Brassaï’s images from the 30’s are an early example of this. Figure 6 shows the introductions between the women and clients in “Suzy” brothel. The women are stark naked, save for some neat patent heels, and stand will their full attention on the fully clothed male client, as of presenting themselves to him. The way the photo has been shot from behind, as if over their shoulder or out of their sight, so they do not realize the viewer can fully see their exposed bodies suggests an element of voyeurism. Similarly in Figure 7 we view the embracing couple from an unnoticed perspective, looking in as they share and intimate moment. The additional element of the lady’s sheer dress and exposed rear adds to this feeling of voyeurism, and manages to suggest a male-gaze as the exposed party is the female. In Figure 8 we see this male-gaze in a much more literal form as we the viewer observe the clothed male client from behind as he watches his lady either un-dress or re-dress. This act of dressing also reminds the viewer of the reason the male is there and what is about to, or has just happened, adding an additional implication of eroticism. ‘His studies of the shadowy underworld of the thirties – images that were strikingly even scandalously, original for the time – opened a new range of subject matter for later photographers’ (Warehime 1996: 1). An unmistakable example of a photographer who shares similar themes of eroticism and voyeurism in a later timeframe is Helmut Newton. Beginning work for British Vogue in 1956, Newton was considered as one of the world’s leading fashion photographers from the 1960s onwards. Author Hans-Michael Kroetzle, states of Newton that ‘his constant exploration of the possibilities also led to an expansion of the limits of tolerance’ (Koetzle 2002: 146), a statement that could be said of the work of Brassaï 30 years earlier. Newton is famous as a controversial figure, depicting themes that scream taboo with a provocative approach, which ironically appear to insult the authority of ‘good taste’ whilst simultaneously sitting on the pages of Vogue magazine. This confusing contradiction is considered as a strongly postmodern quality. ‘Women were photographed in provocative poses, seemingly unaware of the camera, caught post-coital Fig 7. A monastic brothel, Quartier Latin, Brassaï (1931) slump or prowling vast hotel rooms coiled with sexual desire.’ (Golden 2008: 180). Often naked of just partially-clothed (Newton also favoured the inclusion of simple black heels, an element which serves to further emphasise the lack of additional apparel present), Newton’s girls are often at the attention of a male observer, or involved in an interaction between this opposite sex. In Figure 9 there is a strong element of voyeurism as we look up at the behinds of the two girls, and the male in the room simultaneously gazes their way. There is an overtly erotic atmosphere in this shot. They are partially clothed, and look as though they are standing to attention, ready to be ordered by the male. As in Brassaï’s images the fully clothed male appears to be in control, as the female
Fig 8. Washing up in a Brothel, Rue Quincampoix, Brassa誰 (1932)
participants act to please his will. This photograph was shot in the postmodern timeframe of 1979, just 3 years after the eventual publication of The Secret Paris. In Brassaï and Newton’s times alike, this is a daring commentary to exhibit, and both have been accused of a certain degree degradation of women as a result. Kroetzle states of Newton that, ‘The artist has always insisted that he is little more than a voyeur, a claim which coquettishly borders on understatement, but nonetheless reveals the conceptual core of his photographic work.’ (Koetzle 2002: 147). The area in which Brassaï and Newton differ is their intention of realism versus artificiality. Brassaï is a bold documenter of real life, intent on revealing the truths of his age and society, whereas Newton’s work, often for commercial ends, is a realization of his own obsessions and Fig 9. Two Pairs of Legs in Black Stockings, Helmut Newton (1979) fantasies – ‘Newton’s visualizations may be connected with a contract, but they are nonetheless steeped in his personal obsessions, wishes and dreams, pleasures and fears.’ (Koetzle 2002: 147). Working with a skilled team of expert stylists, hairdressers and makeup artists, Newton loves to arrange scenes to his own preferences and thus achieve total control over the picture. ‘”I do only what pleases me.”’ (Newton in Koetzle 2002: 144) states Newton as ‘he places his subjects on the line between pornography and fashion photography’ (Nicholls 2007: 6), whereas Brassaï’s intention is purely to depict what already exists in front of him, ‘”All I wanted to express was reality, for nothing is more surreal.”’ (Brassaï in Morand 2001: Cover). In Brassaï’s images what is intended to shock is the frank honesty of its content. This presentation of provocative and risqué imagery concerning the relationships between men and women has carried on and remained prominent in contemporary photography. In today’s society, we understand that sex sells, and such erotic and provocative images that were considered too taboo to be shown to the public in Brassaï’s times are now displayed Fig 10. Dolce & Gabbana SS07 campaign, Steven Klein (2007) in magazines and on billboards for all to see. Figure 10 is a photographic campaign for Dolce and Gabbana for Spring/Summer 2007 shot by Steven Klein, another photographer famed for his overtly sexual themes and images. It would seem once again that the difference between this work and that of Brassaï is the intent behind it, according to Domenico Dolce the image in this campaign was meant to ‘”recall an erotic dream, a sexual game”’ (Dolce in Nicholls 2007: 10).
The final aspect of Brassaï’s work which should be addressed is his dabblings in Surrealism. ‘The surreal effect of my pictures was nothing more than reality made fantastic through vision’ (Brassaï in Morand 2001: Cover). Surrealist work was in part intended to ridicule the meaninglessness of the modern world, it was a reaction against the emptiness that had become reality and therefore acts as a precursor to Postmodernism. Brassaï was often regarded as a “Surrealist observer”, moving in the same circles and being friends with many Surrealist artists and writers such as Picasso, Giacometti and Henry Miller. He also contributed photos such as Figure 11 to the Surrealist publication “Le Minotaure”, although he never chose to be formally affiliated with the movement. His Surrealist images were achieved through technical manipulations and studies of female nudes deliberately playing on the ambiguities of form as we can see in Figure 11. When speaking about postmodern style, authors Sturken and Cartwright explain it as ‘a creative explosion of style and surface image in reaction to the rigid attention to form and underlying structure in modernism.’ (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 311), this can be seen in the fluidity and contrasting textures apparent in Figure 11, along with a postmodern element of deliberate confusion unlike the displays of literal truths seen in modernism.
Fig 11. Woman-Amphora, Brassaï (1935)
To conclude, it is vital to look at all of the different aspects and facets of Brassaï’s images and ideas which work together to create an incredibly unique and progressive influence today. The choices of subject matter and commentary which this exceptional photographer chose to pursue, those of the taboos and exclusivities of the Parisian underworld, at a time when such realities were not discussed or presented to a wide audience, sets him apart from his modern times straight away. That the revealing photos of The Secret Paris were not published until the people and places he had photographed no longer existed as he has seen them suggests an eye for images which would provoke and push the norms of the time, ‘To the present generation, some of these pictures will certainly seem as exotic as if they were of pygmies and Zulus. Even more so.’ (Brassaï 1976: 4). His early voyeuristic eye captured images which relate to a postmodern style, images which we have seen explored many times since, but in the appropriate timeframe from around the 60’s and 70’s onwards from photographers such as Helmut Newton and Steven Klein, ‘Brassaï’s exploration of the shadow side of Paris, his efforts to reveal something of its culture and mysterious qualities, its atmosphere, texture, and form, represent an original and significant contribution to the art of the thirties, as well as to the history of photography.’ (Warehime 1996: 2). Brassaï was also extremely eclectic in his approach, demonstrating a great variety in his work, a trait which in itself is considered to be postmodern. His explorations into Surrealism suggest a postmodernism in aesthetic as well as commentary, where ambiguities and questions, along with expressive compositions replace the straightforward realities and rational sensibilities of modernism and the 1930s. ‘Although postmodernism may not be about style alone style is one of the chief characteristics of a postmodern ethos.’ (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 313). Through his vast array of work, Brassaï has certainly shown a style that could be considered postmodern, encompassing many of the characterisitcs of later postmodern work. The modern timeframe of the 1930s for which he is famous did not hold him back, and as a result we now have the images of one of the most remarkable perspectives of history to inspire and dazzle us forever more. Word Count: 2440 (Quotes: 706)
REFERENCES: (Ward 1997: Preface) (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 311) (Miller in Anon online: photo-seminars.com) (Brassaï 1976: 3) (Morand 1987: Cover) (Warehime 1996: 1) (Brassaï 1976: 3) (Brassaï 1976: 3) (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 16) (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 326) (Brassaï 1976: The Ball at “Magic City”) (Ward 1997:19) (Warehime 1996: 110) (Warehime 1996: 1) (Koetzle 2002: 146), (Golden 2008: 180) (Koetzle 2002: 147) (Koetzle 2002: 147) (Newton in Koetzle 2002: 144) (Nicholls 2007: 6) (Brassaï in Morand 2001: Cover) (Dolce in Nicholls 2007: 10) (Brassaï in Morand 2001: Cover) (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 311) (Brassaï 1976: 4) (Warehime 1996: 2) (Sturken and Cartwirght 2009: 313)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: Fig 1. Boulevards at the Place de la Opera, Brassaï (1933) in Morand 2001: 8 Fig 2. Rue des Ursins, Eugène Atget (1923) online: masters-of-photography.com Fig 3. A Female Habituée, Brassaï (1931) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 4. A Lady of the Evening near the Place d’Italie, Brassaï (1931) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 5. Homosexual ball at Magic City, Rue Cognacq-Jay, Brassaï (1932) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 6. At Suzy, introductions, Brassaï (1932) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 7. A monastic brothel, Quartier Latin, Brassaï (1931) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 8. Washing up in a Brothel, Rue Quincampoix, Brassaï (1932) in Brassaï 1967 Fig 9. Two Pairs of Legs in Black Stockings, Helmut Newton (1979) online: christies.com. Fig 10. Dolce & Gabbana SS07 campaign, Steven Klein (2007) online: inoubliablemodelarmy.blogspot.com Fig 11. Woman-Amphora, Brassaï (1935) online: all-art.org
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BOOKS: Brassaï (1976). The Secret Paris of the 30’s. London: Thames and Hudson. Entwistle, J. (2000). The Fashioned Body. Malde: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Frascina, F. et al (1993). Modernity and Modernism: French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press. Golden, R. (2008). Masters of Photography. London: Carlton Books Ltd. Jeffrey, I. (1997). The Photo Book. London: Phaidon. Jencks, C. (2007). Critical Modernism: Where is post-modernism going?. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Kroetzle, H-M. (2002). Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures Volume 2. Cologne: Taschen. Morand, P. (2001). Brassaï: Paris by Night. Paris: Flammarion. Muir, R. (2008). Tim Walker: Pictures. Kempen: TeNueues. Sturken, M. & Cartwright, L. (2009). Practices of Looking. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Tillyard, S. K. (1988). The Impact of Modernism. London: Routledge. Varnedoe, K. (1987). Gustave Caillebotte. London: Yale University Press. Varnedoe, K. (1995). Gustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist. New York: Abbeville. Ward, G. (1997). Teach Yourself: Postmodernism. London: Hodder Headline Plc. Warehime, M. (1996). Brassaï: Images of Culture and the Surrealist Observer. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ARTICLES: Becker, J. (2011). ‘Photos: From Brassai to Bing, Stunning 20s and 30s Night Photography’, Vanity Fair. (7 April 2011). Available at: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/atget/atget_rue_des_ursins_full. html, Accessed 12/05/11 Roos, B. (2001). ‘Brassai’s Minotaure nude: woman, homosexuality and the involuntary nation’, The Journal of the History of Art. (1 Jan 2001). Available at: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-166945185.html, Accessed 12/05/11 ESSAYS: Nicholls, A. (2009). Erotica in Fashion Photography: A Postmodern Perspective. Available at: http://issuu. com/angelnicholls/docs/dvc_erotica_in_fashion_photography_layout, Accessed 15/05/11
ADDITIONAL SOURCES: WEBITES: Brassai, 1899-1984, at http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/Brassai.htm, Accessed 15/05/11 Eugene Atget, Rue des Ursins 1923, at http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/atget/atget_rue_des_ursins_full.html, Accessed 12/05/11 Helmut Newton: Two Pairs of Legs in Black Stockings, Paris 1979, at http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5164964, Accessed 18/05/11 The Counterfeit Body: Fashion Photography, at http://www.daylightonline.com/thecounterfeitbody.htm, Accessed 18/05/11 Male voyeurisitc gaze in film still fashion photography, at http://matjazz.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/male-voyeuristic-gaze-in-film-still-fashion-photography/, Accessed 18/05/11 Sports Illustrated’a High Fashion Spin (2011), at http://inoubliablemodelarmy.blogspot.com/2011/01/sports-illustrateds-high-fashion-spin.html, Accessed 18/05/11 Art of the 20th Century: Surrealism: Photography, at http://www.all-art.org/history800_dream_of_revolution4.html, Accessed 12/05/11 Cecil Beaton: A Life in Pictures http://fashionsmostwanted.blogspot.com/2010/01/cecil-beaton-life-in-pictures.html, Accessed 21/02/11 Glossary: Dada http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=81, Accessed 01/03/11 Glossary: Surrealism http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=292, Accessed 01/03/11 VIDEO: Glamour’s Golden Age: Beautiful and Damned, (BBC), at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nk9m5/Glamours_Golden_Age_Beautiful_and_Damned/, Accessed 21/02/11 Bright Young Things, 2003. dir. Fry, S. Henry & June, 1990. dir. Kaufman, P.