Bill Brandt

A new exhibition of Bill Brandt’s photographs is on display at the Chris Beetles gallery in SW1. I went along during my lunch break and endured the masses of people around Piccadilly circus for the first time. It really was worth a look though. I’ve seen some of Bill Brandt’s work before on the web and in books but the pictures are truly memorable in the flesh. This is partly down to the exceptional job that has been made by John Wells who is the Master Printmaker behind the reproductions on display here.

Bill Brandt, German by birth, went through life shunning his roots and pretending to be English. He certainly captured facets of Englishness that suggests that he was truly assimilated into our culture. I love his abstract nudes, mostly set on Sussex beaches, but his wonderful pictures in minimalist London flats are fantastic too. The picture of the bleached female legs extending towards the open French windows is a memorable image. I also love his bold graphic style which is in evidence in his pictures of the Bermondsey copper and Battersea bridge. Bill was a real advocate of gritty, high contrast images, all black blacks and white whites. This is a style that I also like.

All images in the exhibition are silver gelatin prints with prices from £2300 to £6900 per print. They are all limited editions of 35 per print. So, there is good business to be made in printing. Not sure whether dead Bill will see any of it though. It’s great to see prints using traditional methods being hung in galleries in this digital age. Bill Brandt’s negatives have been around since the 30s and are still producing excellent prints. The detail in these prints at such a large scale is excellent and really inspires me to do more printing in the darkroom. If only I had the time.