Untitled (Nude) c. 1950

Bill Brandt made this silver gelatin print, Untitled (Nude), sometime during his career. Brandt’s nudes are far removed from the commercial or fashion photography of his time. There is a very intimate quality to this photograph, but it's not obviously sexual. The woman looks directly at us. She is self-possessed. Brandt's nudes of the 40s and 50s were shot in domestic spaces. The model is not posed in a studio, she is in a bathroom. We see the bathtub and a window. The setting gives a sense of the everyday, of an unvarnished reality, but the distortions of the wide-angle lens hint at an unsettling surrealism. Understanding an image like this depends on considering the social and institutional context. It's through studying these elements that we develop our understanding of the power of art.