Deux Belles de Nuit, Boulevard de Rochechouart, Montmartre
Two elegantly dressed women of the night stand along the Boulevard de Rochechouart in Montmartre, their figures emerging from the shadows in Brassaï's characteristic chiaroscuro style. The gelatin silver print captures the atmospheric mystique of 1930s Parisian nightlife, with the wet cobblestones and dim street lamps lending the scene a dreamlike, cinematic quality. Brassaï's unflinching yet empathetic lens transforms an ordinary street encounter into a timeless portrait of nocturnal Paris.
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print, printed circa 1960.
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Important Photographs from the Collection of Dr. Anthony Terrana
April 2, 2013
More by Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
Artists in conversation
Eugène Atget
French · b. 1857
Atget documented the streets and nocturnal corners of Paris with the same atmospheric intimacy and poetic melancholy visible in this Brassaï image, capturing wet cobblestones and gaslit scenes that transform ordinary urban moments into timeless records of Parisian life.
Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
American · b. 1899
Weegee worked almost exclusively at night using stark gelatin silver prints with deep chiaroscuro contrasts, photographing street figures and urban outcasts with the same unflinching yet humanistic gaze that Brassaï brings to these two women on the boulevard.
Lisette Model
American · b. 1901
Model shared Brassaï's empathetic documentary approach to marginal and nightlife figures, producing bold black and white street portraits with dramatic tonal contrast and a cinematic mood that closely mirrors the atmosphere of this nocturnal Montmartre scene.
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