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Bill Brandt Retrospective by Emily Koch |
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Bill Brandt - A Centenary Retrospective review by Emily Koch The V & A, London Monday, April 5, 2004 A video interview with the well respected British photographer Bill Brandt provides his soft speech as the only sound in this very simple and elegant exhibition of his art. The collection of predominantly vintage black and whites feature a wide range of subject matter, but all illustrate the compassion, imagination and humour characteristic of Brandt’s work. His portraits capture the character of a mixed batch of celebrities and contain a comical portrait of Laurie Lee peering over a stone wall, his partly obscured face only taking up the top quarter of the composition. Other striking pictures include his series of nudes where the human body of his subject takes on a sculptural form reminiscent of Henry Moore pieces, and night photos taken in London where the smog lends them a pastel-like powdery quality. Brandt was also part of a movement encouraging a return to British Literary classics and there is a series of landscape photos on display that look as though they might be taken straight from Hardy, Chaucer or Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights – featuring severely windswept hills and dramatic skies. The V&A has put on a beautiful and understated exhibition of British photography at its best. © Emily Koch
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