The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Novice Prostitute, Place d'Italie

Novice Prostitute, Place d'Italie

c. 1931 (printed 1950s)
(French, 1899–1984)
Image: 23.5 x 17.5 cm (9 1/4 x 6 7/8 in.)
© The Brassaï Estate - RMN
Location: not on view

Description

Unlike Brassaï, whose views of Parisian night life included people of all professions and proclivities, Monsieur X devoted himself to one subject: erotic views of the women in a Paris brothel. This amateur, whose identifity remains unknown, took professional quality photographs in the 1920s and 1930s purely for his own pleasure. Not until he was in his eighties did he sell them to a bookseller known for his discretion. The Three Graces, female figures who served as exemplars of beauty, charm, and creativity in Greek and Roman mythology, have been a popular subject in art since the Renaissance.
  • Madame Brassai [1920-2005], Paris
    (Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY)
    2007
    David Raymond [b.1979], New York, NY
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E. Hinson, Ian Walker, and Lisa Kurzner. Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography : the David Raymond Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 2014. cat. no. 137, p. 182
    Schneede, Uwe M. Begierde im Blick: surrealistische Photographie. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2005. p. 57
  • Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2014-January 11, 2015).
    Begierde im Blick: Surrealistische Fotografie. Hamburger Kunsthalle (May 11-29, 2009).
  • {{cite web|title=Novice Prostitute, Place d'Italie|url=false|author=Brassaï|year=c. 1931 (printed 1950s)|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.282