Henry Miller, the Paris years

by Brassaï

Miller didn't just inhabit Paris, he devoured it. Not the Paris of the guidebooks, but the City of Light's lurid backways and backwaters, the dens of vice where he could slough off the pale cast of American puritanism and embrace the hedonistic facts of life. The Parisian life of the "Happy Rock," as Miller liked to call himself, was a turbulent quest for new sensations and avenues, a roisterous, slumming exploration of the soul. This world Miller shared with Brassai, whose work, first collected in Paris by Night, established him as one of the greatest photographers of our century. Miller and Brassai's friendship was a recognition of kindred spirits, born of mutual admiration for each other's tireless, restless fascination with Paris and its inhabitants. . In Miller, Brassai found his most compelling subject. Using unpublished letters, recollected conversations, and references to Miller's work - and featuring sixteen unforgettable examples of Brassai's photography - Henry Miller: The P