Category: war

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
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
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.