Paris by Night

2001. Every effort has been made to trace copyright ownership and to obtain permission for reproduction. If you believe you are the copyright owner of an item on this site, and we have not requested your permission, please contact us at special.collections@otago.ac.nz

Central DC707 BT536 2001

Boston, MA: Bulfinch Press; Little Brown and Co.

In 1861, the author of ‘Paris au gaz’ in Paris Impérial wrote: ‘Now that gas has reached the little streets of the big city, night truly is no more, because darkness has been banished.’ One who haunted the nocturnal delights of Paris was photographer Brassaï, real name Gyula Halász (1899–1984), who produced his Paris de Nuit (Paris by Night) in 1933. This work featured sixty images that depicted the darkest corners of Paris. As he stated: ‘My constant aim was to make people see an aspect of daily life as if they had discovered it for the first time.’ Here is his Notre-Dame from the windows on the Île Saint Louis, and a glimpse of the Boulevards at the Palace de l’Opéra.