Book Review: Bill Brandt and Henry Moore
Bill Brandt: Portraits, 1982 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
This photography book focuses on the works of photojournalist Bill Brandt (1904–1983,) and artist Henry Moore (1898–1986.) It highlights how these figures, who were of the age of the camera, augmented the visual world as well as how their work connects on a thematic level. The central focus of their works was the social experiences for civilians during World War II in Great Britain; and, post war, the geological fabric of Great Britain’s landscape and the human body.
Life, January 1, 1940 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
It is important to note that Brandt and Moore told history by way of art. During World War II the British government acknowledged the power behind captioned pictures. You’ll notice that during this time photographs were highly publicized. Newsprint became the main way by which these figures distributed and how millions of viewers got access to, their work. The publication of photographs by way of newsprint reorganized the visual art world. It redefined our views on “primary” and “secondary” art/images and highlighted the operations of a hierarchy within the visual world.
Henry Moore, Eighteen Ideas for War Drawings, 1940 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
(Top) Bill Brandt, Perspective of Nudes, 1961 (Bottom) Bill Brandt, Shadow of Light, 1966 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
These figures made evident how photography is not subordinate in comparison to art. In fact, Moore’s understanding of the role of photography at the birth of the camera shows how nuanced his view of the visual world was. To pull a quote from the book, “In 1936, musing on books, photographs, and sculpture, [Moore] commented that ‘most people, I think, respond more easily and quickly to a flat image than to a solid object.’” (Messier and Droth 11)
Bill Brandt, Liverpool Street Extension, 1940, printed ca. 1948 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
Bill Brandt, Christ Church Crypt, Spitalfields, Stepney, 1940 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
Brandt photographed portraits of Moore and his work. Although, Moore and his art were often the subjects of Brandt’s pictures it should come as no surprise that photography worked as an enabler of mass communication and mechanical reproducibility. The camera is a contrivance that propagated art and also propelled it by affording viewers a new viewpoint. Moore made sure to photograph his sculptures in order to provide his viewer with more than one visual experience by which to engage his work, “Photography is the leveler that represents both itself and ‘art’ on the printed page.” (Messier and Droth 11)
Henry Moore, Tube Shelter Perspective, 1941 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
Bill Brandt, Shadow of Light, 1966 © Bill Brandt and Henry Moore by Martina Droth and Paul Messier Published by the Yale Center for British Art/Distributed by Yale University Press, 2020
Included in this book are early prints, late prints, first editions, reprints, negatives never printed, commissions never published, cheap newsprint, commercial edition, deluxe folios, exhibition prints, books, and catalogs. “Whether standing alone or as proxies for other works, all of these versions and variations exist as physical objects in their own right, bringing their distinctive material biographies to bear on the larger constellation of creative possibilities.” (Droth 16)
To find more information on this book, click here.
