|
On the one hand we observe the echoing, but silent avenues of a
depressed Glasgow (1948) but on the other we find a rearward view
of an Eton boy, undignified and oblivious, spreadeagled on the playing
field in full school uniform (1933). That can be compared, over
the same subject, with the somehow more atmospheric and inspiring
photographs taken for the book Eton Portrait by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
(published 1937, but surely taken sometime earlier). Did Moholy-Nagy
see these Brandt photographs? He almost certainly did and was inspired
by them, but decided on a different, less socially aware treatment.
They make an interesting comparison.
Brandt, in his evocative fruit stall picture (1929), which acknowledges
Eugene Atget as his inspiration (as did numerous contemporary artists,
including notably Man Ray), directly references his sources. One
that is repeated in his work is the famous figure of late 18th century,
Samuel Johnson. Johnson was also secretive (as the unexplained and
unaccounted for Jacobite sword and buckler found in a closet in
his London house exemplified).
It seems Brandt really did wish to be remembered by posterity for
his female nude studies. These are available in profusion, as exhibited
at the Pentagram Gallery, and run to the late 1960s. They seem to
lack the profundity of the social chapter, however beguiling they
appear in their cryptic physiognomy of the female form.
What equivalent of Brandt exists today? None, it seems. Most claimants
lack the elusive, rare quality that was Brandt's hallmark.
Brandt got in everywhere, silently. E.M.Foster, so recessed as to
appear almost like a cornered quarry in his rooms in King's
College, Cambridge; that too is captured by Brandt
Ed
|
