The Blitz
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| - | '''Bill Brandt''' ([[May 3]], [[1904]] – [[December 20]], [[1983]]) was an influential [[United Kingdom|British]] [[photographer]] and [[photojournalism|photojournalist]] known for his high-contrast images of British [[society]] and his distorted [[Depictions of nudity|nudes]] and [[Landscape art|landscapes]]. | + | '''The Blitz''' was the sustained [[strategic bombing]] of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] by [[Nazi Germany]] between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the [[Second World War]]. The Blitz hit many towns and cities across the country, but it began with the bombing of [[London]] for 76 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941, over 40,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged in London alone. |
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| - | ==Career and life== | + | |
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| - | Born in [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]], son of a British father and German mother, Brandt grew up during [[World War I]]. Shortly after the war, he contracted [[tuberculosis]] and spent much of his youth in a [[sanatorium]] in [[Davos, Switzerland]]. He traveled to [[Vienna]] to undertake a course of treatment for TB by psychoanalysis. He was in any case pronounced cured and was taken under the wing of socialite Eugenie Schwarzwald. When [[Ezra Pound]] visited the Schwarzwald residence, Brandt made his portrait. In appreciation, Pound offered Brandt an introduction to [[Man Ray]], in whose [[Paris]] studio, Brandt would assist in 1930. | + | |
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| - | In 1933 Brandt moved to [[London]] and began documenting all levels of British society. This kind of documentary was uncommon at that time. Brandt published two books showcasing this work, ''The English at Home'' (1936) and ''A Night in London'' (1938). He was a regular contributor to magazines such as ''[[Lilliput (magazine)|Lilliput]]'', ''[[Picture Post]]'', and ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]''. He documented the [[London Underground|Underground]] bomb shelters of London during [[The Blitz]] in 1940, commissioned by the [[Minister of Information|Ministry of Information]]. | + | |
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| - | During [[World War II]], Brandt focused every kind of subject - as can be seen in his "Camera in London" (1948) but excelled in portraiture and landscape.{{Or|date=December 2008}} To mark the arrival of peace in 1945 he began a celebrated series of nudes. His major books from the post-war period are ''Literary Britain'' (1951), and ''Perspective of Nudes'' (1961), followed by a compilation of the best of all areas of his work,''Shadow of Light'' (1966). Brandt became Britain's most influential and internationally admired photographer of the 20th century. Many of his works have important social commentary but also poetic resonance. His landscapes and nudes are dynamic, intense and powerful, often using wide-angle lenses and distortion.{{Or|date=December 2008}} | + | |
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| - | Bill Brandt is widely considered to be one of the most important British photographers of the 20th century. | + | |
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The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The Blitz hit many towns and cities across the country, but it began with the bombing of London for 76 consecutive nights. By the end of May 1941, over 40,000 civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged in London alone.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The Blitz" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
