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Brassaï 
Hotel de Passe Rue Quincampiox 
[Lingerie for Diana Slip] 
1933 (ca) 
  
Gelatin silver print, photo-mechanical 
Sotheby's - London 
Photographs, 23 May 2015, Lot: 52 
  
 
LL/60085 
  
Known for his series of 'Paris by Night', Brassaï artistically invested in the capital’s darker side. The sense of unease reflected in his images is characteristic of Surrealism’s interest in the Uncanny, which the artist knew would be a perfect combination with his nocturnal ‘reportages’.
 
Rue Quincampoix, close to the market of Les Halles, only came to life in the middle of the night. The greengrocers, butchers and other merchants are the first customers for the ladies stationed outside their hotel. The choice of framing and the lines which Brassaï emphasises presents the theme of prostitution as less of a trivial subject and more of a poetic one. While we often see the faces of the women, either dressed or ready for work, they remain anonymous, their privacy protected.
 
At the same moment in his career, Brassaï was commissioned by the lingerie label 'Diana Slip'. The publicity images were composed in the same way as his documentation of the restless nights on rue Quincampoix. The negatives from this commission were used and transformed later for the famous series ‘Transmutations’. Prints made in the 1930s from the original negatives are extremely rare. 
 

 
  
 
  
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