Brassaï (1899–1984), born Gyula Halász in Transylvania, was a Hungarian-born photographer who documented Parisian nightlife during the 1930s. His landmark book Paris de nuit (1933) explored streets, cafés, brothels and nocturnal encounters, while Graffiti examined anonymous markings on city walls. Darwin selects Brassaï for connecting urban observation with the underworld, treating darkness, desire and vernacular inscriptions as evidence of a city's hidden social life.
