Category: photography

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photography Social history

Book Review: Nudism in a Cold Climate by AnneBella Pollen

Book cover Nudism in a Cold Climate. Image shows a woman with bare shoulders.

The Visual Culture of Naturists in mid-20th century Britain

Researching and collecting old photographs takes you to some strange and unexpected places. In this case I was interested in the photographs by Bertram Parks and Yvonne Cooper in annual volumes of “Photograms of the Year”. I knew that they were well-known photographers who managed to span taking society photographs and nudes (though not at the same time!) without causing any apparent controversies. It was also easy to discover that not only were they published in “respectable” books and magazines but they also contributed to many nudist magazines such as Health and Efficiency. When I read that they were supporters of British Nudism it seemed inevitable that I would get a copy of AnneBella Pollen’s book on the subject.

It is indeed the case that Bertram Parks and Yvonne Cooper not only took photographs of Naturists but they actively promoted the practice through their work. But it was also the case that they most often used professional models rather than real naturists and it was these photographs that were most often used in nudist publications. This is at the heart of many of the questions that can be raised about the nudist movement in mid-20th century Britain. The naturists themselves were trying to promote a healthy lifestyle suitable for families and claiming that going without clothes was a way of entirely obviating sexual connotations and indeed that participants would not fall prey to pornographic thoughts as regular exposure to naked bodies would make nudity entirely natural. Of course there is a massive contradiction here as “Health and Efficiency”, “The Naturist” etc., purported to support these core ideas and yet their pages were full of naked female models. The number of naturists was much, much lower than the circulation of these magazines so how were the magazines really being seen? The magazines were also full of adverts for not only healthy lifestyle products but also doubtful self-improvement courses and books. Want a bigger bust (and this was long before Polanski) or want to grow muscles to stop bullies kicking sand in your face? Then there was something there for you. As the magazines grew they also began to advertise services, books and films clearly meant to titillate.

Annebella Pollen lays out these developments with admiral clarity and with copious photographs which strike one as charming and old-fashioned rather than pornographic. She traces the evolution of nudism as a philosophy through gymnosophy through nudism and naturism between the 1920s and the early 1970s. The terms used seem to mean the same thing but there are subtle differences and changing definitions to be explored along the way. You can see Pollen’s academic background in her writing yet she always manages to keep her narrative interesting and readable with only the odd reference to “othering” and gender identities.

Nudism in a Cold Climate is one of those books that has quotable entries on every page and I could easily fill this review with them. Take her opening paragraph for instance: “There’s an old joke about pornographic magazines; I only read them for the articles! It regularly popped into my mind while researching 50 years of nudist publications packed full of photographs of naked people. In my case the defence was true: nudist articles have complex and interesting things to say about the movement’s principles and its public identity. Nudist authors were earnest in the face of ridicule. They are worth taking seriously for what they reveal about bodily ideals and realities in a period of rapid social and cultural change in 20th century Britain.”

Despite what you might expect this book has a lengthy and interesting text as well as the interspersed images. Even if you come to be titillated you will learn much about social attitudes and social history. It’s worth saying too that the book has excellent notes, a comprehensive index and properly referenced image credits, all things that matter not only to scholars but to people like me wanting to clarify the history of photography and identify new sources of information. Of course there’s a lot that could be said about modern day pornography, the internet and so on but they are not the focus of this book which generally ends discussion in the early 1970s. From my perspective it is not only a riveting read but it also sheds light on vintage photography in general and shows how trying to separate “art” photography

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photography

Photograms of the Year 1934-5: Pictures you many not Understand

Flock of Geese throw up cloud of dust.

The preface to this year’s volume tells us that readers will find “a large number of pictures they will like, and some they may not understand.”

To my mind this volume has an unusually large number of dull and uninteresting photographs including still lifes so pedestrian that it strains credulity that they were accepted for publication. Elsewhere we find the usual icky child photographs, the icky pet photographs and the ever-popular oldies with wrinkled faces. “Geese,” shown above, is one of the more dynamic entries.

“Study in Stone” is an interesting exercise in symmetry and contrast and represents a style still popular today.

This study of the dancers Lalla Cassel and John Carlberg would also not be out of place in a collection of modern photographs though it could be seen as too posed and not showing any movement.

“Death of Cleopatra” harks back to Victorian paintings of classical themes, a sort of black and white homage to the colourful paintings of Alma-Tadema.

There’s an unusual number of nudes in this volume – eight in total. I’ve picked out “Echo” for a couple of reasons. Firstly it references Greek mythology this time, where Echo is a mountain Nymph cursed by Hera to only repeat the last words she hears until she fades away leaving only her voice. Secondly the photographer is Betram Parks, who together with his photographer wife Yvonne Gregory, were some of the most interesting artists of their day. Famed for society portraits and producing publicity images for theatrical performances they were also well-known for their female nudes. They published several books including the 1935 “The Beauty of the Female Form.” (About £60 from Abebooks if you’re interested). They also published photographs in naturist publications such as “Health and Efficiency.”

Bertram Parks and Yvonne Gregory are worthy of a future blog post as there are many other fascinating facts about their lives and works.

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Dance Music Hall photography

Music Hall Gaiety Girl Sylvia Storey AKA the Countess Poulett

Sylvia Storey AKA Countess Poulett

Sylvia Storey was a British stage performer associated with Edwardian musical comedy. She was linked to the Gaiety Theatre, London and hence was known as a “Gaiety Girl.”

The image at the top of the page comes from an edition of The Bystander dated June 30th 1909 by which time Sylvia had become the Countess Poulett. She married in 1908 and she and her husband travelled around the world. William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett died in 1918 during the flu epidemic.

After she was widowed she became a socialite spending time in the United States. While spending time with Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster on his yatch, the Duke’s wife became jealous and threw Poulett’s belongings overboard.

In later life she took a cottage in Somerset.

Gaiety Girls were to be seen in chorus lines and were reputed to be more refined than other dancing girls in the music hall. As well as dancing they often posed for postcards and cigarette cards. Above you can see Sylvia in both black and white and colourised. Purists tend to frown on the practice of colourising old photographs today but it was common practice in the early twentieth century. The process of colourisation was carried out by “hand tinting” though this effect was was achieved in different ways.

The practice of hand tinting will be described in more detail in a later post. There will also be more information about Gaiety Girls. Sylvia Storey was far from the only Gaiety Girl to marry into the aristocracy.

Here’s another colourised card of Sylvia Storey. There are many more postcards of Sylvia out there and I will be adding them from time to time.

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photography Social history

Photograms of the Year 1936 – How to Judge the Standard?

It’s always tempting to judge these old photographs by modern standards. Take this photo of William Rothenstein and son. By modern standards I would judge this to be a very successful portrait and the low angle and framing adds to the effect. However, the 1936 annual opines that it “goes considerably farther from the accepted standard, for not only are the figures seen from a viewpoint appreciably lower than usual, but they are also shown at an angle that is a departure from the normal vertical. Whether the end has justified the means or not must be left to the reader to determine.”

In contrast this pair of photographs seem quite pedestrian by modern standards and I feel sure they would receive low marks if seen in a modern camera club competition. (Not that would necessarily be a gold standard by which to judge photographs).

The photograph of this pair of boxers appears more modern in tone though obviously posed. Today you’d expect to see an action photograph of a real bout.

Arthur Kales was a relatively well known photographer and this nude would, I suggest, be very acceptable in a modern context.

“Duet” owes rather more to Victorian ideas of classicism and I doubt it would be acceptable in mainstream photography today but I could well be wrong as the line between art nude and soft porn is hard to define.

As usual I have just picked out a few favourites to fit my narrative but the 1936 edition of Photograms of the Year had its full complement of still lives, portraits, landscapes, abstract compositions and often sickly cute shots of children and animals. For some reason there was a larger than usual representation of nudes this time around and I’ve only picked out a couple to discuss here.

As with literature it is a foolish endeavour to judge by modern standards but nevertheless it is interesting to see how standards have changed.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.