Armoire à glace dans un hôtel de passe, rue Quincampoix

Brassaï

1932, printed 1950s · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

A keen observer of Parisian nightlife in the 1930s, Brassaï was drawn to the visual conundrums and optical innuendos of everyday life. The play of reflections and absences in this image, made in a Paris brothel, suggests the materialization of subconscious impulses. Evoking Freud's definition of desire as the sensation arising from a perceived absence of remembered pleasure, this blatantly sexual scene suggests but withholds a specific narrative.

Artist

Brassaï

Date

1932, printed 1950s

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Warner Communications Inc. Purchase Fund, 1980