Mar 23, 2010 - Sale 2208

Sale 2208 - Lot 156

Price Realized: $ 19,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
BRASSAÏ (1899-1984)
"Devant la 'Closerie des Lilas' dans le brouillard [In front of the 'Closie des Lilas' in the fog]." Ferrotyped silver print, 9x11 1/2 inches (22.9x29.2 cm.), with 2 of Brassaï's "81, Rue du Faubourg St. Jacques" hand stamps, the title, in red ink, in Brassaï's hand and other notations, in pencil, on verso. 1934
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Additional Details

This photograph is alternatively titled "Avenue de L'Observatoire."
Originally from the collection of Madame Brassaï.
Brassaï (1968), 42.
Paris's Left Bank has long been a haven for writers, artists and philosophers. They congregated along the Boulevard Saint-Germain and in the Quartier Latin, bouncing ideas and witticisms off of one another over cocktails and cigarettes. Yet places like La Closerie des Lilas along the famed Boulevard du Montparnasse in large part earned their reputation because of the Parisian and expatriate artists who turned these café tables into their studios. Nearly all of these celebrated cafes, including Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots and La Closerie des Lilas boast that Ernest Hemingway wrote many of his acclaimed novels at each of their tables. Also at La Closerie des Lilas, Henry Miller worked on several manuscripts.

Miller was a close friend of Brassaï, and gave him his much lauded "Eye of Paris" nickname. Brassaï wandered the Parisian boulevards late at night, especially in rainy weather conditions. On this particular evening, he had not ventured far from his house near the Boulevard du Montparnasse before the atmosphere obscured his favorite café to the point of being barely recognizable. Thus, the iconic establishment became just another veiled structure along the Left Bank, shrouded by the dim night light and the mystical haze.