THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Bassano’s Civic Museum continues its proposal into the groove of the great international photography, and makes it introducing the exhibition “Brassaï. The Paris’ eye” to the general public by Philippe Ribeyrolles and Barbara Guidi, from 16th November 2024 to 21st April 2025. Carried out in collaboration with Silvana Editoriale and with the Estate Brassaï Succession, the exhibition presents about 200 vintage prints, as well as sculptures, documents and objects belonged to the photographer, for a deepened and never seen look on the Brassaï’s work, with a particular attention to the celebrated images dedicated to French capital and his life. Hungarian by birth – his real name is Gyula Halasz, replaced by the pseudonym Brassaï in honour of Brasso, his hometown – but Parisian by adoption, Brassaï (1899-1984) has been together with Cartier-Bresson one of photography fathers of twentieth century, author of pictures which even now identify the face of Paris, the capital of contemporary art, in the collective imagination.
A GREAT ARTIST
Painter, sculptor, writer with cosmopolitan education, 360 degrees intellectual, curious, quick and sensitive observer, Brassaï opted for dedicating mainly to the photography around the 1929, in other words, only after his definitive transfer to the French capital. “It is with great pleasure that in the exhibiting spaces of Civic Museum we will present the work of one of the greatest photographers of all times – Nicola Ignazio Finco, Mayor of Bassano del Grappa – who has been able to tell of Paris during the first half of twentieth century like few others, giving us pictures which even now constitute essential visual documents for who wants to know and to study the French capital during the years included between the two world wars. Pictures which still today, at a distance of almost one century from their realisation, keep intact all the strength and immediacy of lived and deeply participated life real documents ”
The Ville Lumière, with its places and its protagonists, is Brassaï’s muse: from working-class neighbourhoods to city’s symbolic monuments, from the fashion world to the portraits of artist and intellectual friends, to graffiti and nightlife. “For Brassaï the photography is a mental action” Barbara Guidi, Civic Museum Director of Bassano del Grappa declared. “It is not only a way for looking at the world but rather means by which or through which, to discover it, to understand it and to measure it. Paraphrasing Heidegger, it is the instrument with which Brassaï “lives the world”. With this spirit he faces the daily but overall night landscape of Paris, becoming photography pioneer “in light absence”, a practice believed technically difficult at that time and with which signs an history unforgettable page of this art: how Diane Arbus told her students, “into Brassaï there is the substance itself of darkness”.
As much as unbelievable is the images gallery of the protagonists during those legendary years: writers, artists, musicians, celebrities of fashion and entertainment world, but also the most humble people, such as hawkers and Halles workers that, seen together, compose an unanimous portrait of poetic beauty. During his walks, Brassaï doesn’t limit himself to landscape representation or architectural views, but also ventures in more intimate and confined spaces, where society meets up and has fun. The affinity to the surrealist movement and the friendship with famous artists and writers like Dali, Matisse, Prevert and Picasso in the end opened the doors of intellectual salons to him, allowing him to participate in the extraordinary cultural ferment that swept Paris in those unrepeatable years. Multifaceted genius with manifold talent – tested himself with design, painting, sculpture but also with writing – Brassaï finds the perfect medium with which to face reality into photography.
A STEP BACK IN TIME
The purpose is a cleaner that allows to purify the world which surrounds him by conventions and customs, turning the most common object into something of unexpected as well: “If everything can become banal, everything can go back to being wonderful: what is the banality if it is not the wonderful impoverished by the routine” indeed the artist said. His famous pictures, such as the series Paris at night and photos whose have inspired the nascent poetics of Surrealism and those of Graffiti series that have traversed the Informale and Art Brut poetry, accompanied by a selection of sculptures, a tapestry, documents and objects belonged to the artist, will organize in a exhibiting itinerary of ten thematic sections whose will immerse the visitor in the sophisticated and mysterious atmospheres of French capital during the first half of the twentieth century, destination of artists and intellectuals, “entertainment city” that seduces and fascinates.
“The exhibition “Brassaï. The Paris’s eye” offers the unique occasion to get to know both the masterful work of one of the most important artists of the last century, and to make a real journey through time and space, immersing into the most authentic Paris’ atmospheres during the first half of the twentieth century” Giada Pontarollo, Councillor for Culture of Bassano del Grappa said. “After the beginning at the prestigious headquarters of Royal Palace in Milan, but completely redesigned on its way and on its story, and with the presence of original works, the exhibition finds today at our Civic Museum, already reference point for important photographic exhibitions of international importance, the favourite place for permitting to the great audience to approach and to deepen a new, important history chapter of photography through the work of one of the biggest protagonists”.
THE EXHIBITION
In addition, the exhibition will be accompanied by the homonymous publication in Italian and English edited by Philippe Ribeyrolles, scholar as well as the great photographer’s nephew, and by a rich educational offer devised for all kinds of visitors. Between the activities on the agenda a special workshop organised in collaboration with Liceo Artistico “Michele Fanoli” of Cittadella will start as well, articulate in four events presented by the professor Dario Antonini, will allow the audience to try themselves in the person in art of printing on photographic paper in camera obscura and to visit freely the exhibition “Brassaï. The Paris’ eye”. The events, with about 2 hours duration, will occur at 3:30pm on the dates of Saturday 18th January, 15th February, 22nd March and 5th April. At the end of activity each participant will be able to bring at home the picture created in memory of the exhibition. The bookings will be available from the month of December. The exhibition “Brassaï. The Paris’ eye” and sponsored by Veneto Region, Media Partner Il Giornale of Vicenza and Rete Veneta.
Information
When: 16th November 2024 -21st April 2025
Where: Bassano del Grappa (VI), Civic Museum
Opening Times: From 10am to 7pm. Closed on Tuesday.
Info +39 0424 519 901 biglietteriamusei@comune.bassano.vi.it