London (Multiple Exposure Nude)

Bill Brandt British, born Germany
1956
Not on view
Brandt first became known for his incisive photographs documenting class stratification in 1930s England. After World War II, he largely retreated from his documentary work into the realm of desire and fantasy that he had first explored as an apprentice to the American Surrealist Man Ray in 1929. Using an old fashioned Kodak police camera with a fish-eye lens, Brandt created an extensive series of hallucinatory studies of the female form. Among the most striking is this photograph of a seated nude who appears to have three arms—an effect he produced by exposing a single negative twice in the camera and then retouching the print with graphite.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: London (Multiple Exposure Nude)
  • Artist: Bill Brandt (British (born Germany), Hamburg 1904–1983 London)
  • Date: 1956
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print with applied media
  • Dimensions: Image: 23.2 x 19.7 cm (9 1/8 x 7 3/4 in.)
    Frame: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation and Joseph M. Cohen Gifts, 2011
  • Object Number: 2011.325
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.