Brassaï was born in 1899 as Gyula Halász in the Transylvanian town of Brassó. He grew up in Budapest and spent the early 1920s in Berlin, training as a painter and working as a journalist. He moved to Paris in 1924, where he stayed until his death in 1984. He took up photography in Paris initially to support his written journalism, though he soon committed himself to a solely photographic practice. Brassaï is most well-known for his images of Parisian life, featuring brothels, prostitutes, city streets, architecture and high society alike. His first book, ‘Paris by Night’, was published in 1933 and established his reputation as a serious photographer.

His depictions of day-time Paris provide a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a Parisian citizen. Whether a couple in an embrace or a view of a park, these photographs feel like a stolen glance into an ordinary, but exciting, place. Brassaï, perhaps in his passion for a new profession and a new city, had an ability to build a dramatic narrative around mundane things, inserting a tangible vitality into his photographs.