Armoire à glace dans un hôtel de passe, rue Quincampoix

Brassaï French, born Romania (Transylvania)

Not on view

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.

Armoire à glace dans un hôtel de passe, rue Quincampoix, Brassaï (French (born Romania), Brașov 1899–1984 Côte d'Azur), Gelatin silver print

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