The first full biography - beautifully illustrated - of Britain's greatest photographer. Bill Brandt, the greatest of British photographers who visually defined the English identity in the mid-twentieth century, was an enigma. A shy and complex man, his life (prior to his arrival in England and the publication of his first book The English at Home in 1936) placed him at the centre of European artistic currents which were to shape his subsequent vision and equip him with the means to portray 'Englishness' unlike any photographer before him, and perhaps unlike any who have followed After his death in 1983, Brandt left a complicated trail behind him. In this first critical biography of Brandt, Paul Delany has ambitiously traced his early background - from a merchant's family in Hamburg and a period in a Davos TB sanatorium to an apprenticeship in a photographic studio in Vienna in the Twenties, where he met and photographed Ezra Pound and also underwent psychoanalysis; from his travels in Spain in the Thirties to his brief period in the Paris studio of Man Ray - and revealed how biographical facts and the fantasies that accompanied them deeply affected Brandt's work. Richly illustrated with duotone reproductions of his masterpieces and a number of unpublished private photographs, Bill Brandt's mystery is unravelled in this illuminating account.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"'Superb...Paul Delany has undertaken a difficult task in writing about such an evasive, recessive personality, who left few letters, told many lies and was fundamentally uncommunicative. But this elegantly composed biography is a fine achievement, candid yet unprurient, which weaves the threads of life and art into a richly textured fabric.' Rupert Christiansen, Literary Review 'An amusing and illuminating picture of how the general public's ideas of what art is and what makes it tick are constructed, and how arbitrary they often are.' Matthew Collings, Guardian 'Excellent.' Andrew Lambirth, Spectator 'A long awaited biography of this important photographer.' Royal Photographic Society Journal 'Paul Delany's meticulous new biography charts Brandt's transformation from blond Aryan youth to Britain's foremost photographer...Delany is scholarly without being dull and the book includes some of Brandt's most impressive photographs.' Wealden Arts Review"
About the Author
Paul Delany was born in South London and his early visual memories are of England in the years when Bill Brandt was working for Picture Post. He has written biographies of D.H. Lawrence in the First World War, and of Rupert Brooke and the 'neo-pagan' circle. In 2003 he retired as Chair of the Department of English at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He lives in Vancouver.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
