Bill Brandt, London
In this study, I have researched the work of Bill Brandt, he aims to go against the norms of many modernist photographers, he uses the dark room to alter his images inspired by Man Ray, who he aided with his work in Paris 1930. This meant that Brandt had witnessed the heyday of Surrealism film and grasped the new poetic abilities of photography. Brandt also learned lots of technical techniques from Man Ray- the use of extreme grain for a graphic effect, as well as the use of radical cropping. The reason that I have researched Bill Brandt is due to his incredible ability to abstract and edit his own work while telling a compelling story about Britain in the 20th Century.
“A photographer must be prepared to catch and hold on to those elements which give distinction to the subject or lend it atmosphere.” - Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt’s striking nude photography embraced the experimentation of orthodox photography in the 20th Century. I will be analyzing his piece “London” 1958. The photo is in black and white which directs the viewers focus to the detail of the model's position and detail. This also promotes a physical intimacy between the viewer and the model. The photo is in black and white which directs the viewers focus to the detail of the model's position and detail. This also promotes a physical intimacy between the viewer and the model while preserving a chilly psychological distance, resulting in the image holding the expressive force of half-disclosed secrets. Brandt used corners in this image to create dimension and will stop the eyes so that they move back into the scene.
This image was taken post World War II in 1958, in this time abstracting started to in the art world which caused each artist to develop a highly personal and unique style of painting. This trend is a continuation of the surrealist movement which originated in the late 1910s and early 20’s as literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious. This image (London 1958) shows the development of the abstraction and surreal nature of imagery at the time. Through this image the abstraction is through the strong cropping of the lower torso and for arms of the model, which are very unusual and non-sexual for a nude currently.
Brandt used a Kodak wide-angle camera with Zeiss Porter lens, by police for recording crime scenes. The wide angle captures full scenes while the small f45 aperture gives full depth-of-field. This also meant he could crop his images (as seen in this image) or show the full scene (for example in Bill Brandt,
Nude, Belgravia, London, 1951) Bill Brandt achieved his signature style of photography by using darkroom techniques such as cropping under the enlarger and by emphasizing tonal contrasting in printing. This was inspired by Man Ray when he was aiding him in Paris 1930, He liked geometrical structure in his photographs.
The atmosphere of this piece creates juxtaposition between the orthodox nude photography of sexualized female figures and an abstract human form. The image being in black and white sharp contrast creates a very emotive yet haunting atmosphere.
Bill Brandt arranges this image with leading through crossed legs from a low vantage point. This creates a very distorted effect of having elongated legs. The foreground of the image is the lower torso of the model with no definition due to the sharp contrast and exposure lighting. Brandt also included lots of texture in this image including the soft tones on the legs, the geometric pattern on the picture on the left-hand side of the image, and the very dark floor creating a strong dimension within the photograph. The triangular shape reoccurs constantly throughout the image, in the geometric image and from the top of the knee to the base of the torso.
The subject matter in this image is the abstracted legs in the right third of the image. The subject matter being in this position holds great significance as it is so close to the lens of the camera it has almost lost all definition, with the mirror in the background holding most of the details in this image. This could relate to England in the 1950s, the harsh lines and patterned could represent the bombed-out, financially, and morally exhausted England. Brandt has clearly intended to abstract this photograph. He has done this through radical over exposure and the out of the ordinary angle.
Brandt’s early nude photos were taken typically in interiors and studios using an old Kodak camera with an extremely wide-angle lens. Brandt did all his own work in the dark room and edition he said
‘I consider it essential that the photographer should do his own printing and enlarging. The final effect of the finished print depends so much on these operations. And only the photographer himself knows the effect he wants. He should know by instinct, grounded in experience, what subjects are enhanced by hard or soft, light or dark treatment.”
Bill Brandt
Brandt’s most important images from this period are the nudes taken between 1945 and 1961, considered his crowning artistic achievement. Influenced by the work of Man Ray, Henry Moore, and Picasso.
'Instead of photographing what I saw, I photographed what the camera was seeing. I interfered extraordinarily little, and the lens produced anatomical images and shapes which my eyes had never observed.’
Nude, Baie des Angles, Frace,
This photograph is arranged with three very distinct segments, the top third of the image is the grey, dull sky, the middle third are the crossed legs and the bottom third is the pebbles of the beach. All these segments also have a vivid contrasts, due to the sunlight casting down from the top of the image. There is no overall shape to this image has it fills out the frame completely. The photograph's design is determined by textures, for example the grain of the foggy sky, the subtle texture of the skin glistening, and the differently contrasted pebbles. This work is not pleasing on the eye as with many for Brandt pieces, the photo is very confusing due to the angle and position of the legs, they look as if the bone is bending into shape to correlate with this idea of distinct segments.
Bill Brandt was a photojournalist, he documented British Life and the contrasts he saw in it. He used his family ties to document the wealthy alongside the poor. Many of these were staged, with family and friends acting out scenes he wished to create. However, this does relate to the image as the contrast between the human living flesh and the pebbles on the beach somehow correspond. Therefore, this image tells the story of the social class dissections within the Uk in 1959.
For his photojournalism and portrait work, Brandt used a Rolleiflex. From the 1950s, he used a Hasselblad with a Zeiss Biogon 38mm (about 1.5 in) super wide-angle lens for his landscape and nude photography. This photograph is taken from a low vantage point and at a micro scale. This is the technique that makes the image abstracted, the image is very confusing as the legs seem Bendt and the juxtaposition of the flesh and pebbles is also unnatural to the human eye.
“No amount of toying with shades of print or with printing papers will transform a commonplace photograph into anything other than a commonplace photograph.” – Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt captures the body's form by positioning the legs and angling the camera in a way that shows a look of distortion. The fact that the photograph is in black and white really emphasizes the detail in the skin and captures the viewer’s attention to the beauty of human form. The legs crossed together, and the up-close frame creates a sense of intimacy and solidarity.
Brandt began his career as a photojournalist, documenting the lives of everyday Britons and working for illustrated magazines. His first photobook, The English at Home, was an anthropological study of British life, showing with a distanced perspective the customs and habits of citizens from all levels of society. Following this, he was employed throughout the 1940s by the British government to capture scenes of daily life in Britain during the war. It was only after these stints in photojournalism that Brandt moved away from socio-political themes into more artistic work. In 1961, the publication of Perspective of Nudes marked, in the words of curators Martina Dorth and Paul Messier, “the point at which Brandt’s stature as an art world figure came onto assured footing.” It was after this that people came to recognize Brandt as an artist rather than a journalist.
To conclude, in my research of Bill Brandts extraordinary work I have learned that he was not only was he an incredibly talented photographer but also, he was telling the story of social and political issues in the UK. Brandt did this through surrealism, which he lived through, having a firsthand account. I am also extremely interested in the way that Brandt did all his own editing in the darkroom and the techniques he used. I plan to apply this to my Photography project; I am going to abstract the human body through macro and extreme detailed photographs.
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