About the Artist

Explore life events
  • Laelia Goehr. Bill Brandt behind the Camera. 1945. Courtesy Estate Bill Brandt. © 2014 Estate of Bill Brandt

    An English photographer of German birth, Bill Brandt travelled to Vienna in 1927 to see a lung specialist and then decided to stay and find work in a photography studio. There, in 1928, he met and made a successful portrait of the poet Ezra Pound, who subsequently introduced Brandt to the American-born, Paris-based photographer Man Ray. Brandt arrived in Paris to begin three months of study as an apprentice at the Man Ray Studio in 1929, at the height of the era’s enthusiasm for photographic exhibitions and publications; his work from this time shows the influence of André Kertész and Eugène Atget, as well as Man Ray and the Surrealists. Upon his return to London, in 1931, Brandt was well versed in the language of photographic modernism. During the 1930s he published his important early monographs The English at Home (1932) and A Night in London (1932) in addition to becoming a frequent contributor to the illustrated press, specifically Picture Post, Lilliput, Weekly Illustrated, and Verve, his published pictures exemplifying his technical skill and his interest in building visual narratives. Some of his most significant reportages represented the extreme conditions created by World War II. After the war, Brandt began a long exploration of the female nude, transforming the body through the angle and frame of the camera lens.

    —Mitra Abbaspour
  • Alternate Name(s) Hermann Wilhelm Brandt (Birth Name)

Meeting Points

Artist Chronology

May 3, 1904
Born
At location: Bill Brandt
Hamburg
1918
Takes art lessons with K.E. Ort, a Czech architect, at the Kunstgewerbeschule
At location: Bill Brandt
Hamburg
1923–27
Convalesces from tuberculosis in a sanatorium
At location: Bill Brandt
Davos
1927
Begins photographing; likely apprentices for Grete Holliner
At location: Bill Brandt
Vienna
1927
Receives further treatment in Vienna
At location: Bill Brandt
Vienna
1929–31
Lives in Paris
At location: Bill Brandt
Paris
1929
Bill Brandt works as an assistant to Man Ray for a few months
Paris
1920s–50s
Develops a strong personal and professional relationship with Brassaï. The two often publish similar images concurrently in magazines such as Lilliput and Picture Post
Contributor: Bill Brandt
Paris London
1929
Makes a portrait of Ezra Pound using a Rolleiflex camera
At location: Bill Brandt
Vienna
1929
Travels and photographs in London
At location: Bill Brandt
London
June–September 1930
Das Lichtbild exhibition
Munich
1931–83
Lives in London
At location: Bill Brandt
London
1932–34
Travels and photographs in Spain, Germany, Hungary, and the United Kingdom
At location: Bill Brandt
Spain Germany Hungary United Kingdom
1932–45
Publishes photographs in Minotaure, Der Querschnitt, Weekly Illustrated, Lilliput, Picture Post, Harper's Bazaar, Verve, Life, Coronet, and Horizon
Contributor: Bill Brandt
New York Chicago Paris Berlin London
1933
Creates a series of photographs of peasants. The series was later published in Lilliput
At location: Bill Brandt
Hungary
1936
Publishes The English at Home
Contributor: Bill Brandt
London
1938
Publishes A Night in London after Brassaï publishes Paris de nuit (1933)
Contributor: Bill Brandt
London
1938
Londres de nuit at Galerie Chasseur d'Images
Participant: Bill Brandt
Paris
1945–50
Photographs the English countryside
At location: Bill Brandt
England
1945–60
Photographs his Perspective of Nudes series
At location: Bill Brandt
England
1948
Publishes Camera in London, which is followed in 1949 by Brassaï's Camera in Paris
Contributor: Bill Brandt
London
July 27–September 26, 1948
50 Photographs by 50 Photographers at The Museum of Modern Art
New York
November 30, 1948–February 10, 1949
Four Photographers: Lisette Model, Harry Callahan, Ted Croner, and Bill Brandt at The Museum of Modern Art
Participant: Bill Brandt, Lisette Model
New York
November 30, 1948–February 10, 1949
Photographs by Bill Brandt, Harry Callahan, Ted Croner, Lisette Model at The Museum of Modern Art
Participant: Bill Brandt, Lisette Model
New York
January 24–May 8, 1955
The Family of Man at The Museum of Modern Art
Organizer: Edward Steichen
New York
December 20, 1983
Dies
At location: Bill Brandt
London

Walther Photographs

View this artist's works in MoMA's Online Collection
For best results, please enable JavaScript.