Gyula Halász is a photographer who was bron in Brasso Transsylvania in 1899. As a young man Gyula studied paing and sculture at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapast. In 1920 he went to Berlin to work as a journalist for the Hungarian newspaper Keleti and Napkelet. He then began his studies and the Berlin-Charlottenburg Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1924 Gyula moved to Paris to live, and were he would stay the rest of his life. (the dream right?) He taught himself the french language by reading the works of Marcel Proust. He lived among other artists and while working as journalist during the day he would spend his evening strolling the city. He decided to supplement some of his articles with photographs for more money but later really fell in love photography and even more with the city of Paris.
Brassai, bra who? Well, using the name of his birthplase (Brasso) Gyula went by the pseudonym Brassaï which literally means "from Brasso".
Brassaï was stunned by the city "under cover of darkness." "When you meet the man you see at once that he is equipped with no ordinary eyes," comments writer Henry Miller on French photographer Brassai. And the sharpness of vision and depth of insight noted by Miller are revealed in Brassai’s lifelong admiration and photographic exploration of the City of Lights—its people, places, and things.
Brassaï's photographs brought him international fame. In 1948, he had a one-man show in the United States at the < (MOMA) in New York City, which traveled to the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. MOMA exhibited more of Brassai's works in 1953, 1956, and 1968 He was presented at the Rencontres d'Arles festival (France) in 1970 (screening at the Théâtre Antique, "Brassaï" by Jean-Marie Drot), in 1972 (screening "Brassaï si, Vominino" by René Burri), and in 1974 (as guest of honour).
Brassaï was later married to a French woman and thus became a naturalized French citizen. He lived a fullfilled life and died in the city he loved in July of 1984.
