The eye of Brassai - Brassai, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Afterimage, March-April, 1999 by Stuart Alexander

The Brassai exhibition last fall (October 14-November 14) at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York City passed with little notice. The timing of the exhibition appears to have been an attempt to benefit from the "buzz" developing just before the opening in December of "Brassai: The Eye of Paris," the important exhibition in Houston at the Museum of Fine Arts, the result of 15 years of research and determination by curator Anne W. Tucker. Yet the Miller Gallery show was well worth the visit. The majority of the work in the exhibition consisted of small, early vintage prints - about 7.2 x 9.6 inches. Some of the pieces are very rare, perhaps even unique. A few of the prints may even be among the dozens that were eliminated in the final editing for Brassai's seminal book, Paris de Nuit, published by Arts et Metiers Graphiques in Paris in December 1932. Included among the 55 photographs exhibited are 12 images that were reproduced in the book.

The presence of these prints raises some serious questions about the intentions of the exhibitor. All 12 prints are about the same size, roughly 12 x 16 inches. There are no stamps, no signatures nor any marking by Brassai on them. Judging by the paper, condition, format, markings and provenance, they were clearly made at the same time, probably in the early- to mid-1930s. The provenance given is the Archives of Arts et Metiers Graphiques. They are all listed as "Price Upon Request," while the other prints have prices marked from $5000 to $30,000. The effect on the mind of the unsuspecting viewer is that these ate the original prints used for the book and are thus extremely rare and valuable. But Brassai did not make prints this large until the later '30s. He also never permitted anyone else to print from his negatives except in the few cases where prints larger than those he could make on his own enlarger were required. As discussed in the 1988 exhibition catalog Brassai: Paris le jour, Paris la nuit,(1) the original negatives were recovered by Brassai's wife, after his death in 1984, from the archives of the publisher where they had remained since the book was first published. Evidence indicates that the gravure reproductions in the book were made from Brassai's own prints. So the questions remain: Why did the publisher have the negatives in its possession? Who made these prints? How dial they find their way to New York to be exhibited in this way?

In order to promote the publication of Paris de Nuit in London in 1933, the Batsford Gallery exhibited prints of all 60 images in the book. According to reviews. the prints were larger than the plates in the book and the cropping of each was often drastically different, with more of the image showing.(2) The prints may have been much larger than the largest prints Brassai was making at that time - normally 7.2 x 9.6 inches and never larger than 9.6 x 12 inches. Brassai was required to submit the original glass plate negatives to the publisher. The Miller Gallery prints were most likely made by someone who either worked at Arts et Metiers Graphiques or at the Batsford Gallery, specifically for the London exhibition intended to promote the publication of the book. Authenticated Brassai prints are more tightly cropped and have a richer tonality than these often contrasty prints. Given Brassais exigence for the quality of his prints, it is inconceivable that he would have authorized such poor enlargements as those or willingly allowed them to remain in the archives of the publisher. Brassai never visited the exhibition where he certainly would have objected to the prints.(3)

The intention of the Miller Gallery is not entirely clear. The exhibition consists of very fine authentic (stamped or signed) prints, including many superb early vintage prints. Even the casual observer would notice that the quality of the large "Paris de Nuit" prints is vastly inferior to that of the others. If the organizer really wanted to fool the potential buyer, he should have exhibited only the "Paris de Nuit" photographs and nothing else with which to compare them. When confronted with my questioning about the authenticity of the prints, exhibition organizer Olivier Renaud-Clement said the prints were marked "Price Upon Request" because the gallery and the Parisian dealer, Alain Paviot, who discovered them had not yet decided what to do about them. He also said that the New York dealer, Brent Sikkema, had supplied some of the other photographs in the exhibition that he had bought directly from Brassai in the '70s.

This year marks the centennial of Brassai's birth which helps to explain the recent increase in presentations of his work. At least two events are planned in Paris. Galerie Francoise Paviot (which is operated by and named for Alain's wife) has scheduled an exhibition for November of this year. Presumably, it will be similar to the Miller Gallery show. In April 2000 the Centre Georges Pompidou, which has one of the largest collection of Brassai prints, has scheduled a Brassai retrospective of over 400 works including his drawings, sculptures and tapestries. The Musee Carnavalet's 1988 retrospective featured a set of over 40 authentic "Paris de Nuit" prints complemented by about a dozen other images in the book and they have not been seen together since. It would be a great service if the expansive Pompidou Center exhibition would offer another opportunity to see a significant number of original "Paris de Nuit" prints. Should the large "Paris de Nuit" prints of doubtful authenticity discussed here resurface, let's hope that they are at least properly labeled in light of recent scholarship.