Kinda hoping this awesome research I did on Bill Brandt will count as two posts because its so lengthy? I went nuts!
Through The Pinhole : Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt is known today as one of the most prominent twentieth century British photographers because of his acclaimed works juxtaposing the wealthy upper class against the downtrodden lower class, his haunting landscapes; and his dramatic, curious, and often surreal portraits and nudes. At a time when photography was just bursting onto the scene as an art form, Brandt rode the crest of a wave of new ideas and experimentation. Influenced by the great minds working around him, Brandt explored both the documentary and poetic uses of photography. Brandt’s expansive works held his audience captive by asking all the right questions about English society and the human psyche.
Born in Hamburg, Germany on the 2nd of May 1904 of his German mother and British father, Brandt was actually a native German (Golden 39). The rise of the Nazi party in Germany was a key factor in Brandt’s decision to later disown his heritage and claim that he was born in the south of London. As a teenager, he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland where he resided until the late 1920s. It was there in Switzerland that Brandt first took up photography and was given a position in a portrait studio. Not long after that the poet Ezra Pound discovered Brandt. Recognizing Brandt’s potential, Pound introduced him to the famous surrealist artist Man Ray, who took Brandt in as his apprentice for several months (Victoria and Albert Museum). After establishing himself in Paris, France in 1929, Brandt moved to England and pursued documentary work for the next ten years. Brandt explains, “the extreme social contrast during those years before the war was, visually, very inspiring for me” (Statement by Brandt).
Street Scene, Peckham is part of a series Brandt produced featuring night scenes of dismal English streets. Brandt published his second book, A Night in London, centered on this genre in 1938. Using a technique called “day for night,” Brandt would sometimes take photos during the day and then print them in a way that made them look like night shots (Victoria and Albert Museum). The end result of this technique is a photograph that can achieve better detail than an actual night shot, giving it a surreal quality. Brandt explains “I find the darkroom work most important, as I can finish the composition of a picture only under the enlarger” (Statement by Brandt).
In the late 1940’s we see a shift in Brandt’s style. The dirty veil has been lifted and the muddy, dark quality of his previous work is washed away. Brandt’s new direction began with this series, Nudes (Golden 39). Extremely wide angled photographs in deep focus, printed in high contrast, gave the works a crisp feeling full of texture. In the print Nude, 1953 a woman’s soft, bright body fills the frame. The distortion caused by the camera’s lens makes her look less human and more like a unique feature of the landscape. The viewer may not even realize that this giant white shape is actually human until taking a closer look. Brandt has successfully blurred the line between woman and object, transforming the sitter’s backside into a metaphorical landscape. The contrast between the jagged cliffs, the pebbles that pave the coast, and the woman’s delicate body break up the composition into three interesting parts. The viewer’s eye is guided down her back, onto the pebbles, out to the farthest point on the horizon, and then circles back through the cliff’s geometric walls.
Brandt’s contributions to the art world were diverse and original reflections of the world he lived in. From socio-political commentary to night photography, and landscape to surreal nudes, Bill Brandt proved to be a jack-of-all-trades in the black and white film world. His expansive portfolio earned him the right to be called one of the most prominent twentieth century British photographers.
Bibliography:
“Bill Brandt Biography – Victoria and Albert Museum.” V&A Home Page – Victoria and Albert Museum. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/bill-brandt-biography/>.
Golden, Reuel. 20th Century Photography: a Complete Guide to the Greatest Artists of the Photographic Age. London: Carlton, 2001. Print.
“Statement by Brandt.” Bill Brandt Home Page. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://www.billbrandt.com/Library/statementbybrand.html>.
