Bill Brandt
Fire Guards patrol the roof of the Houses of Parliament, 1942
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
19.4 x 25.1 cms
7 10/16 x 9 14/16 ins
Series: 3. A Night in London
10933
Provenance
The Estate of Bill BrandtEdwynn Houk Gallery, New York
Exhibitions
Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty, Art Gallery of Ontario, 5 April - 20 July 2014. (This print)Bill Brandt / Henry Moore, The Hepworth Wakefield (7 February - 31 May 2020). The exhibition will tour to Yale Center for British Art, USA (June 25-September 13, 2020) and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich (November 22, 2020-February 28, 2021). (This print)
Literature
Bill Brandt, "Fire Guard on the House of Commons", Picture Post, 14 November 1942, pp.11-13. (part of a ten photograph photo essay)Martina Droth and Paul Messier (eds.), Bill Brandt / Henry Moore, Yale University Press, 2020 (This print)
Annotated and dated verso. Also with photographer's 58 Hillfield Court stamp and labels verso. Inscribed by Brandt in blue ink: 'Fire Guards patrol the roof of the House of Lords....
Annotated and dated verso. Also with photographer's 58 Hillfield Court stamp and labels verso.
Inscribed by Brandt in blue ink: "Fire Guards patrol the roof of the House of Lords. In the background is the Victoria tower (autumn 1943)"
Only known print of this brooding image of London at night. Although Brandt's nocturnes often used the light of dusk, this is a photograph lit by moonlight.
Despite Brandt's inscription, the photograph was taken in 1942, not 1943, for it was reproduced over a double page spread in Picture Post in November 1942. Also despite the inscription which identifies the setting as the House of Lords, the article was on the fire fighters at the House of Commons, the adjoining building.
Many of Brandt's night views of London during the Blitz were made during blackouts imposed in an attempt to make the city less vulnerable to German bombers. Brandt later wrote: "The darkened town, lit only by moonlight, looked more beautiful than before or since. It was fascinating to walk through the deserted streets and to photograph houses which I knew well, and which no longer looked three-dimensional, but flat like painted stage scenery."
Reflecting on photographs such as this, Brandt subsequently wrote:
"The London of the last war was a different place from the London of 1938. The glamorous make-up of the world's largest city faded with the lights. Under the soft light of the moon the blacked-out town had a new beauty. The houses looked flat like painted scenery and the bombed ruins made strangely shaped silhouettes. Through the gaps new vistas were opened and for the first time the Londoner caught the full view of St Paul's Cathedral"
Copyright The Bill Brandt Archive, London / Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York / Zürich. 2018
British Photography / The Hyman Collection
Inscribed by Brandt in blue ink: "Fire Guards patrol the roof of the House of Lords. In the background is the Victoria tower (autumn 1943)"
Only known print of this brooding image of London at night. Although Brandt's nocturnes often used the light of dusk, this is a photograph lit by moonlight.
Despite Brandt's inscription, the photograph was taken in 1942, not 1943, for it was reproduced over a double page spread in Picture Post in November 1942. Also despite the inscription which identifies the setting as the House of Lords, the article was on the fire fighters at the House of Commons, the adjoining building.
Many of Brandt's night views of London during the Blitz were made during blackouts imposed in an attempt to make the city less vulnerable to German bombers. Brandt later wrote: "The darkened town, lit only by moonlight, looked more beautiful than before or since. It was fascinating to walk through the deserted streets and to photograph houses which I knew well, and which no longer looked three-dimensional, but flat like painted stage scenery."
Reflecting on photographs such as this, Brandt subsequently wrote:
"The London of the last war was a different place from the London of 1938. The glamorous make-up of the world's largest city faded with the lights. Under the soft light of the moon the blacked-out town had a new beauty. The houses looked flat like painted scenery and the bombed ruins made strangely shaped silhouettes. Through the gaps new vistas were opened and for the first time the Londoner caught the full view of St Paul's Cathedral"
Copyright The Bill Brandt Archive, London / Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York / Zürich. 2018
British Photography / The Hyman Collection