The British Photographer

The artist Bill Brandt was born in Hamburg, Germany on May 3^rd, 1904, and he was one of four boys in his family. In 1920, when he was 16, he contracted tuberculosis and spent six years in a hospital in Davos, Switzerland. After those very long years in the hospital, Bill Brandt traveled to Vienna, Austria and started working in a portrait studio with Greta Kolliner. Brandt moved around twice between 1929 and 1930, he was first in Vienna, Austria then in 1929 he moved to Paris to work with Man Ray, then in 1930 he moved to England and worked as a freelance photographer. He had written many books throughout his life, his first book was published in 1936 called The English at Home, which talked about the economic and social conditions of England, in 1938 his second book was published, A Night in London, then in 1961 he published his first book of nudes called Perspective of Nudes, and many more after that. After his first book was published Bill Brandt decided to travel even more, from England he went to Barcelona to Toledo then Madrid. In 1937 the first published of the fine-art magazine, Lilliput and it included many images that were taken by Bill Brandt and from there he was becoming one of the most-sought photographers of his time. In 1955 when he took the photo, Portrait of a Young Girl, Eaton Place, he would’ve been about 51 at the time. That image out of all his other work is the one that is the most frequently reproduced. Bill Brandt was most known for his nude portraits since the 1940s and deemed to one of the World’s Greatest Photographers by the Observer. On December 20, 1983 Bill Brandt at the age of 79, died from an illness and per his request his ashes were spread throughout Holland Park in London. Then not long after Brandt passed he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in 1984.

Works Cited

Oden, Lori. Bill Brandt. 1898-1991. <https://iphf.org/inductees/bill-brandt/&gt;.

London's Poshest Square

Eaton Place or Eaton Square is located in London’s Belgravia district. For about 200 years it has known as one of the most expensive and prestigious addresses in London. Eaton Place is with in walking distance of the Belgrave Square Garden, Buckingham Palace, and multiple embassy’s and consulate’s buildings of other countries. It happens to be the largest square in London, and is one of three other squares built by the Grosvenor family back in the 19^th century. It has also home to many famous people, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, the German Ambassador to London, Joachim von Ribbentrop and even Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in the 1940s. One 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment is this district will cost about 8,950,500 euros which is about 9,733,535 dollars in the Unites States. Eaton Place didn’t have the nicest history when it came to its residents like traitors, murderers and in the 1940’s during World War 2, Eaton Place was home to Nazis and the Nazi propaganda. In the 20^th century one of the most infamous murders was committed on the corner of Eaton Square and Lower Belgrave Street. Richard John Bingham who is also known as Lord Lucan ended up murdering his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett and then viciously attacked his wife, Veronica. Veronica managed to get away while Richard was busy washing the blood off his hands. Eaton Square is definitely an extremely posh neighborhood but like everything is this world, it has skeletons in its closet, with its history of Nazi residents and murders.

Works Cited

Flashbak. Nazi, Traitors and Bloody Murders - The Astonishing History of London's Poshest Square. n.d. april 2022. <https://flashbak.com/nazis-traitors-and-bloody-murderers-the-astonishin…;.

Samarotto, Gina. London, U.K. : Eaton Place. 11 January 2015. 8 April 2022. <https://www.private-air-mag.com/eaton-place-&gt;.

Young Girl in Eaton Square

The image Portrait of a Young Girl, Eaton Place was taken in 1955 by the well-known British photographer, Bill Brandt. The image itself actually features Bill Brandt’s ten-year-old niece, Judith in an apartment in Eaton Place, London which is a very prestigious place to live. The photo was taken in black and white and has a calming feel to it. The apartment looks very posh with large windows and doors leading to a terrace with other apartments in the background. Judith, the young girl in the photo looks very calm or at peace, her face and body seem to be relaxed, she is not smiling or posing in any sort of way, just kind of starring off into space. The use of black and white shows where the natural sunlight was hitting when it was taken. The top of her head and the high points of her face are very lit while the area directly under her nose and under her chin have shadows and are very dark. Judith seems to be starring off into space and relaxed so she could be day dreaming, or anything since she is a child with an active imagination. She could be thinking “why am I laying here, why is my uncle taking a photo of me?” The image itself is very modern or ‘grown up’ for a ten year old girl, since typically children are hyper and posing like crazy but since she possibly lives in Eaton Square in London, she was probably taught from a very young age to act proper, like a lady, and made to act an older age than she actually was to fit in with the lifestyle that surrounded her.

Works Cited

Property from the Collection of Dr. Joseph D. Lichtenberg. n.d. <https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/classic-photographs/portra…;.