Bill Brandt was the pre-eminent British photographer of the twentieth century and a founding father of photography's modernist tradition, whose half-century-long career defies neat categorization. This publication presents the photographer's entire oeuvre, with special emphasis on his investigation of English life in the 1930s and his innovative late nudes. The Museum of Modern Art has been exhibiting and collecting Brandt's photographs since the late 1940s, and recently has more than doubled its collection of vintage prints of his work, which form the core of this selection. An essay by Sarah Hermanson Meister sets his life and work in the context of twentieth century photographic history. Brandt's printing style changed dramatically over the course of his career, and this will be a secondary focus. With rich duotone illustrations that highlight the special characteristics of Brandt's prints, this volume will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars alike. Lee Ann Daffner contributes an illustrated glossary of Brandt's retouching techniques, enhancing the appreciation of Brandt's printing processes. The book also includes a generously illustrated appendix of Brandt's published photo-stories during the Second World War, which will clarify the trajectory of Brandt's career as never before.

Bill Brandt, the greatest of British photographers, who visually defined the English identity in the mid-twentieth century, was an enigma. Indeed, despite his assertions to the contrary, he was not in fact English at all. His life, like much of his work, was an elaborate construction. England was his adopted homeland and the English were his chosen subject. The England in which Brandt arrived in the Thirties was deeply polarized. He photographed both upstairs and downstairs, and recorded the industrial north as well as the society rounds of the affluent south. Although much of his work was for the new illustrated magazines, it was frequently influenced by surrealism and an eye for the slightly strange. The subjects of his portraits include the greatest creative figures of his age, and his English landscapes were sublime. His radical treatment of the female body forms a landmark in the history of the photography. Paul Delany ambitiously traces the details of Brandt’s life and reveals how the biographical facts and the fantasies that accompanied them deeply affected Brandt’s work. The biography is richly illustrated with duotone reproductions of his masterpieces and a number of unpublished private photographs.

Accompanies the exhibition co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, shown June 5-September 13, 2020, the Hepworth, Wakefield, shown February 7-May 3, 2020, and the Sainsbury Center, University of East Anglia, shown November 22, 2020-February 28, 2021.