Crew of the Duchess of Uzes
The photography of hunting almost always comes from an amateur practice. In the 20th century, two great photographers were interested in this subject. In 1938, Felix H. Man (1893-1985) devoted a rare series to British hunting. In 1935, Gyula Halàsz, known as Brassaï (1899 - 1984) took this photograph showing a piker holding four horses by their loins. The man, seen in profile, wears the attire of the pikemen: dark frock coat, pants, boots and hat. On his belt hangs a whip and a dagger, while on his shoulder rests a horn.
The photograph was taken in the forest of Rambouillet during a hunt for the Bonnelles Rally, a team founded by the Duke of Uzes, in 1872. Born in Transylvania, Brassaï moved to Paris in 1924 after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest and Berlin-Charlottenburg. Initially a journalist, he began to use the photographic medium in the spring of 1930: "It was to capture the beauty of the streets and gardens, in the rain and fog, it was to capture the night of Paris that I became a photographer.
