Bert Hardy: Exercises with Photography and Film
- Submitting institution
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Birkbeck College
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 805a
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.17658/issn.2058-5462
- Title of journal
- British Art Studies
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 1
- Volume
- 0
- Issue
- 15
- ISSN
- 2058-5462
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- February
- Year of publication
- 2020
- URL
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http://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-15/exercises-with-photography-and-film
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
-
- Research group(s)
-
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This collaborative project produced original and robust research on the wartime and post-war photographic work of Bert Hardy and the social, cultural, aesthetic, and technical elements of the British journal, Picture Post. By focussing on photographs rather than moving images the project made a major contribution to current debates on audio-visual criticism.
The project asked:
• What photo-stories did Bert Hardy work on at Picture Post?
• What are the aesthetic qualities of his photography on the journals printed pages?
• How can videographic analysis reveal new understanding of British photojournalism? And how is this significant for the history of visual culture?
The Key output was published in British Art Studies (Yale Center for British Art and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) in February 2020, available at https://www.britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-15/exercises-with-photography-and-film and comprised a 10,000 word co-authored article on the theoretical framework; the technical processes; and the historical contexts. It also reflects on how the film styles, new images of original locations and related archives and original sound combine with the source material to create affect.
within the article are 2 short films ‘Fire-Fighters!’ and ‘Life in the Elephant’ which use original still and moving images from pages of the Hardy photo-story to explore videographic analysis. The films focus on photographic and print ‘grain’; facial close-up as an affective, national form; narrative sequence and how the story moves from figuration to abstraction. ‘Life in the Elephant’ also considered the sense of historical place. These films can be accessed at https://vimeo.com/388969976/06b2182628 and https://vimeo.com/388970919/df836e590f.
The project produced the first database (Bert Hardy Picture Post Spreadsheet) of all the stories photographed by Bert Hardy for Picture Post (published and ‘killed’) and was presented at various Public talks, lectures and workshops including at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -