Bill Brandt

(British, 1904–1983)

Bill Brandt was a famous German-born British photographer and photojournalist. Best known for documenting British life in the 20th century, he often focused on night scenes, family life, portraits of artists, and the struggles of working-class people. “If there is any method in the way I take pictures, I believe it lies in this: See the subject first,” Brandt explained. “Do not try to force it to be a picture of this, that or the other thing. Stand apart from it. Then something will happen. The subject will reveal itself.” One of his most celebrated series depicts coal miners from northern Great Britain during the Depression, with Coal Searcher Going Home to Jarrow among the most well-known. Though he was born on May 2, 1904 in Hamburg, Germany, Brand later disowned his German heritage and claimed that he was born in London. He initially began studying photography while recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium, and was later introduced to Man Ray in Paris where he came under the influence of the Surrealists and the work of French photographer Eugène Atget. After the war, he adopted an Expressionist style and often employed wide-angled lenses, especially in his Pespective of Nudes series. Today, Brandt’s works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, among others. He died on December 20, 1983 in London, United Kingdom.