BILL BRANDT

Well isn't the internet a funny place? I found this and it is in tribute to one of the finest and most interesting of British photographers, Bill Brandt. We had a small show of his at MOMA Oxford way back when and I was lucky enough to spot him on a Sunday afternoon as he popped in to view the hanging. He had not come to the private viewing and seemed like he was not even going to come to see his own show but I recognised him and he seemed flattered or at least intrigued that some gallery 'assistant' had known who he was. I was also fortunate enough to walk around the show with my dear friend and local photographer Paddy Summerfield who gave me, I now come to realise, what was a masterclass in photographic printing and re-touching as he guided me around each print pointing out the brush work and spotting that Brandt must have done on the prints. Why some of them were almost painted!

The notes on this wonderful little film are as follows:

Non-artists often misunderstand the nature of artistic tradition, and imagine it to be something similar to a fortress, within which eternal verity is protected from the present. In fact it is something more useful and interesting, and less secure. It exists in the minds of artists, and consists of their collective memory of what has been accomplished so far. Its function is to mark the starting point for each day's work. Occasionally it is decided that tradition should also define the work's end result. At this point the tradition dies.For purposes of approximate truth, it might be said that photographic tradition died in England sometime around 1905 --- coincidentally the year in which Bill Brandt was born. Brandt spent much of his youth on the Continent, and in the late twenties went to Paris to study with Man Ray. There he also discovered the photographs of Atget and the works of the French Surrealist film-makers. His own work already possessed a strongly surrealist character --- not the intellectually playful irrationalisme of his teacher Man Ray, but a mordant, poetic romanticism suggestive of de Chirico and Dore.When Brandt returned to London in the thirties, England had forgotten its rich photographic past, and showed no signs of seeking a photographic present. In the forty years since, Brandt has worked virtually alone, with only intermittent contact with the main channels of contemporary photography. Such isolation can starve all but the most independent talents, but for these it can provide a sanctuary where radical visions can develop undisturbed. Brandt's work has been consistently separate from the photographic consensus of the moment: reflective when it should have been militant, romantic when it should have been skeptical, experimental and formal when it should have been factual.In the years following his return to England, Brandt concentrated on photographing his countrymen, of all classes and conditions. These pictures are moving and strange; they express both sympathy and tranquil detachment, as though Brandt were photographing something that had existed long ago. Though unsparingly frank, his pictures seem to refer less to the moment described than to the issues of role, tenacity, courage, and survival.-This video is purely fan-made, if you (owners) want to remove this video, please CONTACT ME DIRECTLY before doing anything. We will respectfully remove it. None of these were created/owned by me. All credit goes to the respective owners. I don't get any monetary gain from this.

Project by Sandro Sansone