Bill Brandt - Portrait of a Young Girl, Eaton Place, London, 1955

Item Details

Original gelatin silver print photo titled on reverse, "Portrait of a child in Eaton Place, London" by photographer Bill Brandt out of London, England. Better known as "Portrait of a Young Girl, Eaton Place, London", Brandt took this photo of his 10 year old niece Judith in an apartment at Eaton Place, London in 1955. Handwritten title on reverse is in Brandt's hand (comparison example provided in photos). Also see britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/16/_assets/downloads/publication-brandt.pdf. Two separate photographer stamps on the reverse. One with his "58, Hillfield Court, Belsize" address in London and the second with simply his name. An additional stamp on the reverse titled, "From Rapho-Guillumette", the New York City photo agency. Printed on single-weight glossy fiber paper. Based on the Rapho-Guillumette stamp and the various handwritten notes and dimension edits on the reverse, this image was likely submitted by Brandt for publication either in a magazine that Brandt worked with (Harper's Bazaar, Picture Post, Vogue), or for publication in one of Brandt's books. It appeared in Bill Brandt - Shadow of Light. A Collection of Photographs from 1931 to 1966. Viking, 1966, p.76. One of Brandt's most iconic photos, the image has been featured in multiple significant exhibitions globally, including "History of Photography from Chicago Collection" (1982) at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as "Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light" (2013) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Bill Brandt (1904 -1983) was an enormously influential photographer whose legacy lives on through his social documentary images of British life in the 1930s and 1940s, high-contrast, distorted nudes and landscapes. Born in Hamburg, Brandt grew up during World War I. He later disavowed his German heritage and claimed to be born in South London. In 1930, Brandt was introduced to Man Ray in Paris, and it was from this moment that his career was launched. Brandt began as a photojournalist in the streets of Paris and then in London following his move to England in 1933, but his practice was unique, documenting all levels of British society. He published two books of these sociological studies soon after: The English at Home (1936) and A Night in London (1938). He was a regular contributor to magazines such as Lilliput, Picture Post, and Harper's Bazaar. In 1940, the Ministry of Information commissioned him to document the Underground bomb shelters during the Blitz. During the Second World War, Brandt focused on every kind of subject - as can be seen in his Camera in London (1948) but soon turned his attention to portrait and landscape. Marking the end of the war in 1945 he began a celebrated series of nudes later publishing Literary Britain (1951), and Perspective of Nudes (1961), followed by a compilation of the best of all areas of his work in Shadow of Light (1966). Brandt became Britain's most internationally admired British photographer of the 20th century, capturing British society and his individual subjects with poetic resonance. In 2004 Brandt received a major retrospective exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and in 2013 was the subject of a retrospective at MOMA, New York. Courtesy of the Centre of British Photography.

Measures approximately 7 3/4 x 9 inches. Good with a 2 1/2 inch diagonal crease at the top center. Some smaller scattered light creases mostly at the periphery. Some light scattered toning and also some light silvering at the periphery. Expedited priority shipping, signature tracking and full insurance paid.