Two Apaches in Paris

A Hungarian transplant in Paris, Brassai supported himself with work for the picture magazines of the French capital. His celebrated images of the city after dark, published in 1932 as Paris de nuit (Paris by Night), changed both the way people saw Paris and the way other photographers took pictures. Inspired by his late-night wanderings, the book shows gardens and bridges, lovers and prostitutes, the lights of bars and the backstage areas of dance halls. Although this image of two thugs from Big Albert’s gang was not included in the book, it is typical of that work, with strong contrasts of dark and light and a voyeuristic aura of menace. The black area, which reads as a wall, is actually the edge of the photograph’s frame; Brassai printed half of the image, leaving a panel of black, as if in anticipation of its dramatic impact on the page.