Bill Brandt: Shadows and Substance
"By temperament I am not unduly excitable and certainly not trigger happy . I think twice before I shoot and very often do not shoot at all. By professional standards I do not waste a lot of film; but by the standards of many of my colleagues I probably miss quite a few of my opportunities. Still, the things I am after are not in a hurry as a rule. I am a photographer of London."
-- Bill Brandt
Nude #36, London, 1952
Young Housewife, Bethnal Green 1937
Coal Searcher Returning Home, Jarrow, 1937
Drawing Room in Mayfair, 1938
Francis Bacon, Primrose Hill, London, 1963
Gull's Nest, Isle of Skye, 1947
Ironworks in Sheffield, ca. 1937
Kismet in Mirror, Belgravia, London, 1953
Men and Boy Searching for Coal on Slag Heap During Depression, near Heworth, Tyneside, 1936
Campden Hill, London, 1978
Portrait of a Young Girl, Eaton Place, 1955
Self-Portrait with Mirror, East Sussex Coast, 1966
Evening Light, St. Paul's Church, Burslem, ca. 1937
East End Children, Dancing the Lambeth Walk, 1939
© Copyright Bill Brandt Archive
Bill Brandt (1904-83) is widely considered England 's greatest 20th century photographer. After spending his formative years (1929-31) in Paris in the orbit of Man Ray, Brandt returned to London and developed a sophisticated form of photo-reportage. Like Shaw's Pygmalion or Altman's Gosford Park, Brandt's first book, The English At Home, dissected the nuances of Britain 's calcified class system.
Extended essays on life in the coal-mining country to the north, and of London during the War, followed. After the War, Brandt renounced photojournalism and turned to the interior space, making surrealist nudes with a distorting police camera in work reminiscent of the paintings of his close friend Francis Bacon.
Portraits of Britain 's contemporary artists and writers as well as moody landscapes inspired by previous generations of English literature would also occupy him in the post-War years. These extended projects were compiled in several more beautifully printed books, culminating in Shadow of Light, a compendium of his work. This exhibition features important vintage prints from all facets of Brandt's varied career including his iconic "Nude #36 (with Bent Elbow)" as well as six unique oversized exhibition prints from Brandt's seminal 1969 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
Number of photographs: 59
Frame sizes: 16 x 20 inches to 24 x 30 inches
Rental fee: $8,250 for eight weeks plus shipping and insurance. Additional weeks are available for 10 percent per week.
Press: Art Daily: Bill Brandt: Shadows and Substance to Open at The Akron Art Museum