Nude, London

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Nude, London

Artist Bill Brandt (English | British, 1904-1983)

Date1952

DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (34.3 c 29.2 cm);
Mount: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.8 cm)

MediumGelatin-silver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Frederick P. and Amy McCombs Currier

Object number

1987.269

Not on View

Label TextBill Brandt was born in Germany to a prosperous family with roots in England. Despite being alienated during the First World War, during which his English father was interred, Brandt did not immigrate to Britain until 1934. Before finally settling in England, Brandt worked for a short time in Man Ray’s Paris photography studio. In the B 1930s and 40s Brandt was one of Britain’s most successful documentary photographers with images contrasting the lives of the wealthy and the poor. His night-time images of London under siege during World War II remain some of the most iconic war photographs. After the war, Brandt ceased documentary work and began making portraits, landscapes, and photos of the nude. This nude study shows the influence of Surrealism, experienced when he studied with Man Ray. Produced using a camera equipped with a wide-angle lens, his nudes are distorted; his subjects moody and isolated in strangely lit surroundings.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Past and Present: Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Jan 22 - June 8, 1999 (no cat.) Toledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, April 20-September 2, 2012.