{"id":401868,"date":"2026-04-16T16:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:23:11","slug":"10-intimate-images-of-a-lost-decadent-1930s-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401868\/","title":{"rendered":"10 intimate images of a lost, decadent 1930s Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

8.\u00a0Kiki de Montparnasse with her Friends Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Treize de Caro and Lily (Kiki de Montparnasse avec ses amies Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Treize de Caro et Lily\u00a0(c 1932))\"EstateEstate Brassai\/ Succession Philippe Ribeyrolles copy<\/p>\n

At the same time that Brassa\u00ef was exploring Paris’s underworld he was also hanging out in bohemian artistic circles. “What makes Brassa\u00ef unique is his ability to move effortlessly from the slums to the most exclusive salons of Paris while rubbing shoulders with the artistic elite,” says Ribeyrolles. Seen here, reclining on the sofa in a chequered dress, is Kiki de Montparnasse, a painter, singer, cabaret artist, and legendary figure in the Parisian avant-garde. A one-time lover of Man Ray, she was the model for many of his most iconic works including Le Violon d’Ingres<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Magic-City Dance Hall, Rue de l’Universit\u00e9 (Bal au Magic-City, rue de l’Universit\u00e9\u00a0(1931))\"EstateEstate Brassai\/ Succession Philippe Ribeyrolles copy<\/p>\n

Some of Brassa\u00ef’s most evocative photographs are of the drag balls which took place twice a year on the eve of Shrove Tuesday and the third Thursday in Lent, known as Mi-Car\u00eame (mid-Lent), at the Magic-City Dance Hall.\u00a0For these occasions, the police prefecture gave special permission for men to dress in drag as part of the carnival tradition of reversing hierarchies of class or gender identity. Although dressing in drag was not actually prohibited at other times, men dancing together when dressed in feminine attire was. Ribeyrolles tells the BBC that Brassa\u00ef’ was introduced to the Magic City community by a figure known as Antoine, the King of Hairdressers. The password “Friend” guaranteed entry.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0A Two-in-One Suit, the Magic-City Dance Hall (Un costume pour deux, bal du Magic-City\u00a0(1931))\"EstateEstate Brassai\/ Succession Philippe Ribeyrolles copy<\/p>\n

Not all sections of society were as open-minded as Brassa\u00ef. In 1934 the Mi-Car\u00eame ball was prohibited after pressure from the far-right groups Action Fran\u00e7aise and La Libert\u00e9. Although it returned in the late 1930s it was generally considered to be a more subdued affair than in its heyday. Post-war Paris would prove to be more strait-laced. Although it would be tempting to see Brassa\u00ef’s work as a conscious attempt to document an era on the brink of oblivion, Ribeyrolles thinks that is missing the point. “His images are not so much a premeditated act of preservation as the testimony of a fascination with people passing by, fleeting moments, and changing atmospheres. It is this attentiveness that gives his photographs a retrospectively melancholic dimension, as if they unknowingly carried within them the memory of a world destined to disappear.”<\/p>\n

Brassai: The Secret Signs of Paris is at Moderna Museet in Stockholm until 4 September.<\/p>\n

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