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Photography Research Project Masters of Photography Bill Brandt Benjamin Marshall

Photography Research Project Masters of Photography Bill Brandt Benjamin Marshall.

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Photography Research Project Masters of Photography Bill Brandt Benjamin Marshall

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  1. Photography Research ProjectMasters of PhotographyBill BrandtBenjamin Marshall

  2. Bill Brandt was born Hermann Wilhelm Brandt in Hamburg, Germany on May 2, 1904. His father was British and his mother was German. Growing up in Hamburg, Germany, where his father had spent most of his life, during World War 1 was very difficult and his father was even held by the Germans for six months because he was a British citizen. This no doubt led Bill Brandt to disown his German heritage even going as far to claim that he was born in South London.

  3. Not long after the war Brandt at the age of 16 discovered he had Tuberculosis and was then sent to live in a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland where he stayed until he was 22 years old. Brandt had three brothers one who was an aviator killed in action while fighting for the allies during WW2 and another, Rolf, who became an illustrator. After being cured of TB and leaving the sanitarium he followed his brother Rolf to Vienna. Here he was introduced to Dr. Eugenie Schwarzwald an educator and wealthy socialite who thought it was time for him to find a job and as she made suggestions Brandt stopped her at photography.

  4. Dr. Schwarzwald arranged for Brandt to work in the studio of a friend of hers, Greta Kolliner. In 1928 he was introduced to an American poet Ezra Pound and was able to take the poets portrait. Ezra was so impressed by the picture that he made sure to arrange an introduction to Man Ray who would become a great surrealist painter and photographer. After this meeting Brandt would leave Vienna for Man Ray’s studio in Paris where he worked for a few months in 1929. Here he would be inspired by the Parisian art of that time and films from his father’s birth country of England. He produced some of his first images of the Caledonian Market in London and also images of the flea market of Paris.

  5. In 1932 he decides to make the move to London where he marries the first of three wives and continues his work. During this period of his life he makes what would be a lifelong friendship with photographer Brassai, and his work is finally published in 1935 in the form of the book The English at Home. Bill Brandt was also involved in the war effort and in 1940 he would photograph the blackout in England and was also asked by the War Office to record the Blitz (Germanys attack over Britain). In 1941 The National Buildings Record asked him to photograph the many important buildings in the country. By 1945 Brandt begins to emerge as a surrealist and is greatly influenced by film director Alfred Hitchcock.

  6. Than in the 1950`s he begins to change genre`s and finds a love for landscape photography and combines this with nudes that he shoots on the beaches of Normandy and Sussex. In 1969 he gains glowing reviews when his works are featured in New York City`s Museum of Modern Art. During the 1970`s he continued to work where he lived in Kensingtion, London where he joined the Marlborough Gallery. He was named Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts in 1978 for his achievements and sustained excellence holding only one of three awards given in photography.

  7. When Brandt was almost 80 years old he was awarded the Silver Progress Medal by The Royal Photographic Society and received even more accreditation when 50 years of his works were exhibited at the National Centre of Photography in Bath. Bill Brandt who had suffered from diabetes for 40 years died on December 20, 1983. He excelled as a photographer in all fields from social scenes, wartime documentary, landscapes, surrealism, night photography, portraits and nudes. His photographs have a dark intensity that I really enjoy.

  8. Critique “The Young Housewife”

  9. Describe - This photo is called the Young Housewife and in it we see a young woman cleaning a doorway threshold and she is on her knees wearing a dirty apron and she is ringing a sponge out into a bucket of water and soap. Just by looking at this picture you can already tell that she is living in very poor conditions and just by the resigned expression on her face you can tell that she isn’t very happy and life is full of hardships.

  10. Analyze - The expressive part of this picture is the timing and how the woman`s body flows from top to bottom in a serpentine line. There is an S curve, starting at the top of her head and ending at her knees. The S-curve running the length of her body is the strongest shape in the entire picture, making it stand out the most. Every part of her body carries the line or echoes its shape bringing unity to her posture and strengthening her pose. The other observation is in the direction that her head and eyes are positioned in contrast to her hands and the bucket which draw your eye in the opposite direction. The picture also shows movement with the head and shoulders going one way and the hips the other. Also there is a contrast in colour with her figure being light and the ground around her being dark. The fact that the image is in black and white also draws you in to the subject and sets the tone and mood of the picture.

  11. Interpret - First I will talk about the mood, so right from the beginning in my opinion the black and white aspect of it just makes it seem eerie and somewhat creepy and with addition to the sad expression on the girl’s face it just adds to the whole feeling of sadness and the monotony of her day. I think that Bill Brandt is trying to show and express the typical hardships of a London housewife`s day with this image.

  12. Judge - I personally like this photo and think that there is nothing that could make it better although it is a rather sad picture, it just reminds you that we are living in better times now and that you won’t see something like this happen anymore. It also expresses how much the world has changed since then and shows how much the world has developed with the ways of living everyday life.

  13. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Brandt http://www.billbrandt.com/Library/experimentalbrit.html http://www.billbrandt.com/Educate/timeline.html http://www.picsearch.com/pictures/artist/bill%20brandt.html http://www.google.ca/search?q=bill+brandt+photography&hl=en&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=EsGpT5HoLYqBgwfDoaSsAQ&ved=0CHAQsAQ&biw=944&bih=977

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