Wednesday 15 August 2018

Research: Categories and Humphrey Spender

This research point is to review the work of Humphrey Spender and write a short summary in our learning logs referencing the web site:

http://spender.boltonmuseums.org.uk/

However this link is no longer valid. I have therefore used the following site, published by Bolton Council, who now own the images, for references for the photographer and his work.

https://boltonworktown.co.uk/about/worktown-people/humphrey-spender-1910-2005

The above site is well organised and also gives a very good mini biography of Humphrey Spender. As this section in the OCA course relates to categories it is worth listing out the categories that Spender's work has been put into. These are:

Blackpool, Ceremonies, Graffiti, Industry, Leisure, Observers, politics, Pub, Religion, Shopping, Sport, Street, Work

The images taken mainly follow a strict documentary style and it is obvious why nearly 100 years later that these have a significant importance. Spender was very sympathetic to the Northerners of Bolton and believed at an early stage that photography would help bring more awareness of social injustice and in the imbalance of wealth.

Many of his images have fantastic spot lighting, probably natural ad give a very warm and sympathetic view to life at these times.

The categories intrigued me, especially Graffiti. After reviewing the images it is quite amazing to see how the art of Graffiti has changed. Here we have simple drawings made in white chalk drawn mainly on brick walls. They are largely inoffensive and humorous;  I wonder what Spender would have made of modern spray canned multi-coloured works of art that adorn our cities today?

I was disappointed in the "Street" category, it was just images of people in a street; I suspect I was expecting something more along the lines of modern street photography. However I found the observers section very interesting.....

The Observers - Humphrey Spender


Tuesday 14 August 2018

Exercise: August Sander

In this exercise we are to review the document that describes the work of August Sander and to write a reflective commentary of 200 words.........

Augustus Sander (1876-1964) was a German Photographer known for his project “People of the 20th Century. In this project Sander categorised people into groups based on their trades or social standing.

Most of the work was photographed before the Second World War in the early part of the 20th Century but Sander continued to work on this project until his death in 1964. During the war this “unherioic” work was despised by the Nazi Party, this led to a blanket ban on such work and the destruction of 1,000 or so negatives. This loss was though nothing compared to the loss of Erich, his son, who died in 1943 after 10 years in prison as an anti-Nazi protester.

Sander influenced an entirely new generation of documentary practitioners. In particular Diane Arbus who I have always admired. Perhaps the last group on Sander’s list, ironically called the “Last People”, would have influenced Arbus in her work photographing the circus freaks, giants, dwarfs and of course trans-genders. The following examples are synonymous with Arbus’ work.

Augustus Sander

Augustus Sander
The “Last People” interests me the most too. Whilst the other categories are self-explanatory the “Last People” I believe was originally intended to be of old people, but then extended to a group of people that had no category – they too were the 'last' to be categorised. So last in years and 'last' as a defacto definition.

It was a fitting tribute that Erich would be recognised in this group too.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/114431/death-mask-erich-sander-1944