Dark modernism: Champroux’s nocturnal vision of Brussels

Abstract

In 1935 the photo journalist and cameraman Georges Champroux (1899–1983) assembled 19 black-and-white photographs in a portfolio entitled Bruxelles la nuit, which in many regards recalls Brassaï’s famous Paris de nuit. Whereas most night photography of the period celebrates electrical light, speed and metropolitan life, Champroux’s portfolio expresses a different urban narrative. The Brussels he shows is tranquil, intimate, dark and full of mystery. This paper argues that Champroux’s and Brassaï’s photographs were not only a reaction against the radical changes the city underwent at the time, but were also symptoms of the emerging tendency towards a more humane modernism.