Poésies

This rather oddly composed cover consists of a small detail of a portrait of Léon-Paul Fargue by Brassaï, isolating the face of the Symbolist poet and essayist, framed within a narrow rectangle, as if he is peeping through the mail slot of someone’s front door.
Brassaï made it his business to know, and photograph, most of the artists and writers in Paris of the 1920s and ’30s, when it was the world’s cultural capitol. Of the writers, most of the well-known Brassaï portraits are of Jean Genet and Henry Miller, who like Fargue and Brassaï himself, were inveterate night-owls.

To view an uncropped version of Brassai’s photo from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, click here.

To view the full cover spread for this book, scroll down and click on “Additional Views”.