Bill Brandt: Beach Nudes
We are proud to announce the joint acquisition of the complete photographic archive of Marlborough Gallery, including immaculate exhibition prints by Berenice Abbott, Bill Brandt, Brassaï, Robert Frank, Irving Penn and Helmut Newton.
To celebrate this historic acquisition, we are pleased to reveal our summer exhibition Bill Brandt: Beach Nudes, showcasing Brandt’s most celebrated and sought-after body of work. The beach nudes represent the most significant photographs by Brandt within this remarkable collection. This exhibition at Atlas Gallery marks the first public viewing of many of the works from the Marlborough Collection. In the coming months, a series of special exhibitions and international art fairs will present additional highlights.
Taken on deserted and desolate beaches along the rugged coastlines of East Sussex and the shores of southern France, Bill Brandt’s beach nudes are a deeply personal and sensual exploration of the female form. Using a Superwide Hasselblad camera and Kodak Wide Angle Lens, Brandt would position the camera close to his subjects. This technique resulted in the distortion and elongation of the body, transforming limbs into sculptures that echo the surrounding cliffs and pebbled shores. A crossed knee mirrors a stacked boulder, a bent elbow becomes a weathered stone, fingers intertwine with the beach’s pebbles. The body no longer appears to be a nude but becomes part of the landscape. The high contrast and distorted scale heighten this uncanny effect, turning the familiar into the unknown.
