Brassaï’s close-ups of graffiti carved and painted on Parisian city walls were first seen in the Surrealist magazine Minotaure in 1933, however he would continue to photograph images of graffiti for the next three decades, culminating in the publication of the book, Graffiti, in 1961.
With this project, ‘the eye of Paris’ as he was called by his great friend Henry Miller, detects and captures the secret language of the walls and how the city itself is subject to alteration, defacement and obliteration by any passing hand or the vagaries of time.
Graffiti c 1930’s-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1950s-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1930’s-Brassai
Graffiti c.1940’2-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1950’s-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1950s-Brassai
Graffiti circa 1940’s-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1950s-Brassai
Graffiti c. 1950s -Brassai
Graffiti c 1940’s-Brassai
cakeordeathsite 
Wow, what a collection, literally cutting deep. I like the raw nature of these.
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Thank you. Brassai did a great job in noticing the graffiti and really making you look. Very raw.
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Ah, graffiti! The oldest ‘popular’ art form. I was just reading about the graffiti of Ancient Rome and Pompeii. These are very cool. So eerie and sinister.
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They are very eerie. The header image reminds me of Munch. Nothing escaped Brassai’s notice in Paris.
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An excellent bit of preservation, something unique and probably unnoticed by the majority
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The Surrealists sought the marvelous in the ordinary and overlooked.
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I like that
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So do I, obviously. Always a hint of mysticism in the Surrealists.
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I can imagine the impulse to leave one’s mark on a Paris wall. Brassai’s interest in preserving these etchings as durable images is impressive.
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Everyone has the impulse to leave their mark, or sometimes the wall suggests figures, patterns, faces. Brassai was the eye of Paris, nothing escaped his notice.
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Thank you!
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