Mark Hayworth-Booth, of London's V&A Museum, picks his favourite British photographs of the 20th century. Albeit a very personal choice, Bill Brandt again features as a portrait taken by Laelia Goehr.
"I have chosen this portrait of Bill Brandt rather than one of his own works simply because we all carry a large part of his oeuvre around with us all the time. No other British photographer has made so many memorable photographs as Bill Brandt. He excelled in all fields -social scenes, Surrealism, night photography, wartime documentary, landscape, portraiture and the nude."
Despite his fame he remained a mystery even to those who thought they knew him well. He himself arranged this portrait taken by the young Laelia Goehr when she came to take lessons from him in 1945 - before going on to a successful photographic career herself.
He poses, half concealed by one of the wide angle Kodak cameras with which he photographed the series 'Perspective of Nudes'. I remember him with the greatest affection and respect."
Mark Hayworth-Booth
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