Author: basilisksam

Photographer and writer with special interests in vintage photography and equipment.

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photography

Photograms of the Year 1945 – Takes to the Skies and Goes to the Dogs

1945 and the end of the war. Photograms of the Year has this to say:

“Photography in this country during 1944 tells a tale of difficulties, distress and tragedy, and of valiant and vigorous reaction.” It goes on to list some of the people who have died as a consequence of war including F.J. Mortimer, long time editor of Photograms of the Year.

The two photographs above reflect something about attitudes to war. Both “Warrior of the Stars” and “Spitfire Fighter” are undoubtedly wonderful photographs but do they reflect the true nature of war? Elsewhere there is a portrait of a naval officer but nothing else connected to the war. As before I’m surprised to find nothing of a documentary nature about the war. Considering Lee Miller was photographing much more graphic war images, for Vogue no less, the omission seems hard to understand.

When you note there are as many images of dogs in this edition of Photograms as there are of war it makes the omission of more military-related material seem even more odd.

Can you spot the “gentle satire of this graceful picture” entitled “Victorian Vogue?” I’m not sure that I can.

This time around the nudes include “Pleasant Reflection” and ” The Reading Girl.” Commentary notes that “Miss Mason would have made an even better picture if she had confined her subject to the reflected figure … the reflection has qualities of grace, charm and gaiety.” And clearly you should not be looking at the Reading Girl’s breasts but “the dark curtain repeating the dark tone at base of picture, the lines of shadow on the divan on which the model is sitting and the suggestion of shining sunlight through the window.” (Yes, I am having my cake and eating it too!)

I’ve been posting about the series of Photograms of the Year in the order in which I have acquired the volumes and there will be a good case to consider the chronological progress of photography if I ever complete the collection.

Categories
Dance

From Dancing Divinity to “Portly Grandmother”

I’ve recently acquired more Jessie Matthews items via an ebay seller in the USA. Above you can see publicity material for her film “It’s Love Again.” These glossy photos are printed two per side, each side measuring 19 inches by 12 inches so most likely they would have appeared in cinema foyers.

Colourful publicity for First a Girl, probably my favourite Jessie Matthews film. Basically the same plot as the German film Viktor and Viktoria from 1933 and Victor/Victoria from 1982 with Julie Andrews. I like the Julie Andrews version but consider Jessie Matthews version superior.

Three more publicity leaflets. I assume these were given out in cinemas on the films releases.

This pair of grainy ads have been cut from newspapers and from the material on the reverse they are plainly American publications.

Two cigarette cards, the first from a series of “Modern Beauties,” the second from “From Screen and Stage.”

The sale of sheet music was still popular in the 1930s when Jessie was at the height of her film career and above are 4 examples.

Finally we have this curiosity from 1973, long after Jessie’s fame as the Dancing Divinity. According to the article inside this American publication Jessie’s films were enjoying a revival at the time. However the article rather ungallantly describes the 65 year old as “a portly grandmother.”

This fan magazine also gives a useful list of Jessie’s films:

Categories
photography Social history war

Photograms of the Year 1946 and a Stalingrad Mystery

This stylish Art Deco inspired photograph has strong visual appeal.

War is over but is this reflected in Photograms of the Year for 1946? Given the introduction to this volume you would think so:

Despite this stirring introduction I can find very little photographically that reflects the war nor its cessation.

Intriguingly this photograph is difficult to interpret and there is no explanation although other entries have descriptions to help contextualise them. In 1941 there was still a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia. The outbreak of hostilities between the two countries and the siege of Leningrad began in 1942. So was this photograph an ironic comment on the calm before the storm or just a portrait taken in Leningrad in 1941? Given that the photographer operated out of Bridlington after the war and was known for taking snaps of holidaymakers I suspect the latter to be true.

The Way of An Eagle is another stylish photograph portrayed in an impressionistic manner.

Artistry or cheesecake disguised as art?

Classical allusions are often invoked in nude studies as seen here. Note that it’s a female photographer once again.

To my eye there is little in 1946’s Photograms to distinguish it from previous years. Elsewhere we have the usual pictorialist landscapes, odd still-lifes and closeups of faces with little acknowledgement of the war, certainly in visual terms, and no hint of the documentary traditions of such importance taking place away from the rarefied world of art photography.

Categories
Edwardian photography

Another Mystery Woman

Three photographs that are a bit of a mystery. They are large prints 8″ by 10″. The woman is elaborately dressed and the backdrop sumptuously rendered. A series of letters and numbers in the corner of each shot gives no clue. They are all backed by black rice paper to which they have been glued, so from an album without any information on the back that can be recovered. I’ve only seen photos stuck to this kind of paper when they are of some age. My guess is that these were taken in the Edwardian era but I could be completely wrong.

Of course this is typical of many old photographs. Working out when they were taken is often a matter of guesswork. These three are silver gelatin prints which again points to early twentieth century but silver gelatin prints are still produced today although much less frequently.

Mystery Solved

Thanks to Dra90n R163r on Flickr the photographs were of Diana Wynyard as Lady Gertrude Chiltern in ‘An Ideal Husband.’ The photographer was no less than Cecil Beaton and they are dated 1947.

Categories
photography Social history

Photograms of the Year 1929 – the Interwar Years

What’s going on in the World in 1929? Interesting though Photograms of the Year is, you won’t find many answers therein. Each year a paragraph or two is devoted to photography in various countries. In Germany it was now the time of the Weimar Republic, a term coined by Hitler, characterised by hyperinflation, competing paramilitaries and general unrest. None of this is mentioned in the short essay on Germany which, instead, presents a word salad of little meaning such as “no longer the photography we have been calling artistic until a couple of years ago; not the photography based on the traditional principles of pictorial effect.”

“The Secret” shown above could be straight out of Teutonic mythology but is by a Manchester photographer. In some ways this reminds me of the paintings of Evelyn De Morgan as well as referencing back to the Pre-Raphaelites.

“Portrait”, at least gives a contemporary view of a flapper with its Art Deco overtones.

Wildlife photography is not well represented and I can’t help wondering whether this is a live stoat caught in action or a stuffed specimen posed for effect.

“The Terror of the Desert” is one of my favourites from this collection with it’s almost surreal depiction of desert and cloudscape.

In Pseud’s corner we are offered “A Thrush Sings” and “All Nature is But Art.” There are others but these two will suffice.

It’s quite kitsch but I find “Three Ducks” rather charming.

I’ll finish with this photograph of “Ulla Poulson,” a kind of portraiture that Photograms of the Year does so well.

Categories
photography Social history war

Photograms of the Year 1942 – Virtue Signalling the War

Of course virtue signalling was not a concept around in 1942 but you can see how it can be retrofitted. The 1942 album contains sage words about the war and features some photographs of military men and this warship. When I say military men I don’t mean actual soldiers, airmen and sailors but top brass in their dress uniforms photographed in a studio. The introduction to the album does admit that photography was of “outstanding importance for aerial reconnaissance” and “of inestimable value in modern warfare.”

And now for some of the usual landscapes, nudes etc.

Here’s a relaxing and heart-warming photo of a woman, her child and dog pointedly labelled “freedom.” You probably feel better already.

Again untaxing but this romantic shot of a women gazing out to sea is wonderfully composed.

“The Theatre Sister” is more challenging and looks rather modern in comparison to some other photographs. This wouldn’t be out of place in a modern publication.

Euclid’s Girl Friend and Hogarth’s Curve prove that geometry can be more fun than you might have thought.

Sutherlandshire does not exist as such today but is part of the Highland region of Scotland since 1975.

If I am sometimes cynical about the photographs in this annual publication it is because I am also very fond of the contents and what it tells us about the social history of photography in the twentieth century. I also have to ask myself what these reviews say about me as I select a handful of shots from each year, surely revealing my own subjective likes and dislikes. (Answers on a postcard please).

Categories
Dance Music Hall photography Social history

Vintage Dancing Girls of Preston

A series of four photographs all from the studio of Arthur Winter of Preston. This one has a date of 1935 on the reverse and handwritten “The Maid of the Mountains.” It turns out that “The Maid of the Mountains” was a successful light operetta performed often in the first half of the twentieth century by various different companies and troupes. A search of the British Newspaper Archive reveals the following advertisement:

So, although I can’t be certain, it seems likely from the date that the photograph is of the chorus from the Preston and District Amateur Operatic Society.

Three further photographs from the same studio and date are probably of dancers from the same Society.

Not sure how I feel about “AI” generated videos from old photographs but the results are always interesting. The software seems to have invented some extra dancing girls for “The Maid of the Mountains.”

A second video generation seems altogether unlikely and too modern in style.

Categories
photography Social history war

Photograms of the Year 1941: but Don’t Mention the War

It’s the middle of the war and this photograph is the only one in “Photograms of the Year 1941” related to wartime. Everywhere else it’s business as usual. An introduction was added after the volume was assembled and includes the following: “The fact that it includes practically no photographs of warlike subjects is an indication of the place that real picture-making holds in the hearts of the people who practice it. Camera records of various phases of the war at home and abroad may be left to the Press photographers whose business it is, through the illustrated papers and the newsreels, to show the world realistic details of what is being done to the world under arms.”

I take this to mean that only the kind of photos included in the volume are to be considered “real picture-making” whereas war photography is not. This seems not only wrong to me but ignores the artistry of war photographers and the documentary tradition. A corrective for today might be to look up World War II photographers using wikipedia though I note the omission of Lee Miller from both World War II photographers and holocaust photographers. (Her individual entry gets it right though).

Landscape in pictorialist style is well represented as usual as are still lifes:

There are the usual nudes and figure studies. For instance this example of using a classical reference to present a nude:

Personally I find “Idol” to be a much more appealing image and I note that, once again, the female nude is just as likely to be taken by a female photographer as a male one at this time.

“Cherry Time” is another example of the use of classical reference and a pictorialist style.

You won’t be able read the above but it is an example of 21 pages listing camera clubs in the UK which perhaps gives an indication of how popular photography was as a hobby, even in the midst of war. I note that the camera club to which I belong today was listed as being operational in 1941.

Categories
photography Social history

Photograms of the Year 1952: The Wonderful and Weird

The 1952 edition of Photograms of the Year contained the usual, sometimes odd, mixture of themes and styles. Pets continued to be popular subjects proving that cats and dogs ruled long before the advent of the internet. We forget that at this time getting a photograph published was only for the professional photographer or gifted amateur whereas today anyone can post on facebook, instagram and many other platforms no matter how good or bad their work is.

The photo of the black cat is entitled “Actor?” and is by Felipe Maiaru.

As usual, pictorialism is well represented as seen in Copmere by John D Jones and Dawn Departure by H S Newcombe.

I’m always complaining about weird photos of children and old men or ethnic types with lots of wrinkles in these older publications so it’s only right I’ve included examples to show what I mean. Ethnic wrinklies are still popular today whereas it’s difficult to imagine anyone publishing photos of crying infants. (I think I can say wrinklies because I am one myself.) You’re seeing Breaking Point by Ann-Marie Gripman and The Painter by Holt Madson.

Fireside Beauty by Karel Jan Hora is more aesthetically pleasing perhaps. And if you’re here for the nudes:

You’re looking at Juno by Joan Craven and Low Key by W.A.J. Paul. The notes that go with Juno say “Nude photography is one of the most difficult branches of photography with many pitfalls, but when it is successful it is usually more than justified. It must be idealised in some way or it merely becomes portraiture without clothes, which would not be regarded, to say the least, as in good taste.”

Finally you could expect to find several pages of advertisements at the end of each edition of Photograms of the Year. Often the adverts were surprisingly wordy though this one let a striking image do the talking.

Categories
photography Social history

Photograms of the Year 1955: Minimalism, Pictorialism, Beauty, Art Nude or Cheesecake?

The first plate in the 1955 edition of Photograms of the Year is this photo of Suse Pressier by S Enkelman, Elsewhere the usual collection of close ups of faces in grotesque detail are still popular as are studies of young children we might consider ill-advised today though clearly popular not just in this annual publication but in all manner of photographic magazines and books of the time.

The Regents Canal by Alvin L Coburn is clearly inspired by pictorialism and could easily be mistaken for something produced in the early twentieth century.

Minimalism is also represented, for instance in Mist Morning by Chi-Wei Chang.

Of course female beauty is well represented and these portraits of Audrey Hepburn by Cecil Beaton and Serena by Thomas Petroff are portraits of the type we still see today.

When it comes to nudes, and what we would probably classify as “art nudes” these days, we see the influence of classical painting in Nymph by Walter Bird and Grecian Nocturne by Harold Kells. Nymph could easily pass as a study for a Russell Flint watercolour. Flint, who died in 1969, was himself influenced by classical paintings. Grecian Nocturne on the other hand might be seen as influenced by the paintings of Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

And finally we might want to reflect on when art nude becomes merely cheesecake. This Nude Study by W Mortensen seems to me to be more cheesecake than art, not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that but that depends where you stand as regards the “Male Gaze.”