© Estate of Brassai (Gyula Halasz) - RMN

Currently not on view

Jeune fille rêvant (Young Woman Dreaming),

1935, printed 1967

Brassaï, 1899–1984; born Brassó, Transylvania (now Brasov, Romania); died Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France; active Paris, France
1999-258
In 1934, Brassaï began modifying glass photographic negatives to create reproducible images with surreal characteristics. Here he started with a negative depicting a nude woman and scratched away portions of the gelatin layer, distorting and fragmenting the body by adding abstract shapes. This process, in which an artist draws upon the surface of a negative, thereby creating a photographic etching that can be reproduced, is known as cliché-verre. In 1967, Brassaï assembled a selection of these photographs into a portfolio, calling the project Transmutations, a
reference to how his modifications to the images created a sense of monstrous transformation.

Information

Title
Jeune fille rêvant (Young Woman Dreaming)
Dates

1935, printed 1967

Maker

Brassaï

Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
29.6 × 39.4 cm (11 5/8 × 15 1/2 in.) mount: 31.2 x 41.4 cm. (12 5/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, gift of Robert J. Fisher, Class of 1976, and Mrs. Fisher
Object Number
1999-258
Place Made

Europe, France, Paris

Inscription
Signed and dated in ink, lower right corner of image: Brassai 1935 Inscribed in ink, lower left corner of image: 4//6
Culture
French
Type
clichés-verre, gelatin silver prints, black-and-white photographs, photographs
Techniques
gelatin silver process, mounting
Subject
women, figures (representations), nudes, abstraction

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