Bert Hardy: Exercises with Photography and Film

Nead, L. and Wyver, J. 2020. Bert Hardy: Exercises with Photography and Film. British Art Studies. 15. https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-15/nead-wyver

TitleBert Hardy: Exercises with Photography and Film
TypeJournal article
AuthorsNead, L. and Wyver, J.
Abstract

The two short films and essay published here come out of a collaborative research project on the aesthetic and historical qualities of Bert Hardy’s wartime and post-war photography for Picture Post. Developing the methodologies being explored in the field of videographic criticism, we use moving images to produce a visual exploration of the material and formal qualities of Bert Hardy’s photographs in the 1940s. Digital moving images and sound, we suggest, expand our potential understanding and analysis of Hardy’s work, in ways in which traditional written modes of criticism cannot.

We use the poetic and expressive possibilities of our medium to highlight and examine those material qualities, along with the historical atmosphere of post-war visual media. The two films each explore a particular Hardy photo-story: Fire-Fighters! focuses on the themes of grain in the printed image, the facial close-up as an affective form of national expression, narrative sequence, and the move in the story from figuration to abstraction.

The second film, Life in the Elephant develops the concept of narrative and photographic sequence and facial/emotional expression. It also considers the ways in which the photo-story expresses a sense of historical place. The accompanying article develops the historical contexts for the two photo-stories, the theoretical ideas motivating the project, and the technical processes and collaborative partnerships involved in making the films.

KeywordsBert Hardy
photography
World War Two
Picture Post
videographic criticism
JournalBritish Art Studies
Journal citation15
ISSN2058-5462
Year2020
PublisherPaul Mellon Centre
Publisher's version
License
CC BY-NC 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-15/nead-wyver
Web address (URL)https://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-15/exercises-with-photography-and-film
Publication dates
Published27 Feb 2020

Related outputs

Pauline Boty: Artist - Model - Actor - Blonde
Wyver, J. 2023. Pauline Boty: Artist - Model - Actor - Blonde. London

Blonde Noir
Wyver, J. 2023. Blonde Noir. London

All's Well That Ends Well
Wyver, J. 2023. All's Well That Ends Well. United Kingdom

RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon: Ten Things I Think I Know, or, Of Course We’re Making a Movie
Wyver, J. 2023. RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon: Ten Things I Think I Know, or, Of Course We’re Making a Movie. in: Smith. E. (ed.) Shakespeare Survey 76: Digital and Virtual Shakespeare Cambridge Cambridge University Press. pp. 9-16

The screen language of lockdown: connection and choice in split-screen performance
Wyver, J. 2022. The screen language of lockdown: connection and choice in split-screen performance. in: Allred, G.K., Broadribb, B. and Sullivan, E. (ed.) Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation London Bloomsbury Academic.

Coventry Cathedral: Building for a New Britain
Wyver, J. 2021. Coventry Cathedral: Building for a New Britain. London

‘Filming the invisible’: Barrie Gavin in conversation with John Wyver
Wyver, J. 2021. ‘Filming the invisible’: Barrie Gavin in conversation with John Wyver. Journal of Popular Television. 9 (1), pp. 15-28. https://doi.org/10.1386/jptv_00039_7

Visions of electric media: television in the Victorian and machine ages
Wyver, J. 2021. Visions of electric media: television in the Victorian and machine ages. Early Popular Visual Culture. 19 (1), pp. 91-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2020.1863272

Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Wyver, John 2021. Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies. 16 (1), pp. 62-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602020982748

Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Wyver, J. 2020. Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today. London

Book Review: Seeing by Electricity: The Emergence of Television, 1878-1939
Wyver, J. 2020. Book Review: Seeing by Electricity: The Emergence of Television, 1878-1939. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies. 15 (4), pp. 426-428. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749602020951653a

RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon
Wyver, J. Forthcoming. RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon. Stratford-upon-Avon

Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company: a Critical History
Wyver, J. 2019. Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company: a Critical History. London Bloomsbury.

Hamlet
Wyver, J., others 2018. Hamlet. London

The road to Civilisation: early television journeys to Greece
Wyver, J. 2018. The road to Civilisation: early television journeys to Greece. in: Hobden, F. and Wrigley, A. (ed.) Ancient Greece on British Television Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press.

Exploring the lost television and technique of Fred O'Donovan
Wyver, J. 2017. Exploring the lost television and technique of Fred O'Donovan. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 37 (1), pp. 5-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2016.1272807

Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy
Wyver, J. and various 2017. Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy. London

Scenes from Cymbeline and the language of the early television studio
Wyver, J. 2017. Scenes from Cymbeline and the language of the early television studio. in: Hatchuel, D. and Vienne-Guerrin, N. (ed.) Shakespeare on Screen: The Tempest and Late Romances Cambridge Cambridge University Press. pp. 56-70

An Intimate and Intermedial Form: Early Television Shakespeare from the BBC, 1937-39
Wyver, J. 2016. An Intimate and Intermedial Form: Early Television Shakespeare from the BBC, 1937-39. in: Shakespeare Survey 69: Shakespeare and Rome Cambridge Cambridge University Press. pp. 347-360

‘A profound commentary on kingship’: the monarchy and Shakespeare’s Histories on television 1957-65
Wyver, J. 2016. ‘A profound commentary on kingship’: the monarchy and Shakespeare’s Histories on television 1957-65 . in: Morra, I. and Gossedge, R. (ed.) The New Elizabethan Age: Culture, Society and National Identity after World War II London I.B. Tauris. pp. 267-288

Myriad mediations: Henry Moore and his works on screen, 1937-1983
Wyver, J. 2015. Myriad mediations: Henry Moore and his works on screen, 1937-1983. Tate Publishing.

The filmic fugue of Ken Russell’s Pop Goes the Easel
Wyver, J. 2015. The filmic fugue of Ken Russell’s Pop Goes the Easel. Journal of British Cinema and Television. 12 (4), pp. 438-451. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2015.0279

Television and the Anti-Realist Theatricality of "not Shakespeare"
Wyver, J. 2015. Television and the Anti-Realist Theatricality of "not Shakespeare". Shakespeare Bulletin. 33 (4), pp. 543-568. https://doi.org/10.1353/shb.2015.0055

Screening the RSC stage: the 2014 Live from Stratford-upon-Avon cinema broadcasts
Wyver, J. 2015. Screening the RSC stage: the 2014 Live from Stratford-upon-Avon cinema broadcasts. Shakespeare. 11 (3), pp. 286-302. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450918.2015.1048280

Serjeant Musgrave's Dance and the politics of possibility in two television adaptations
Wyver, J. 2014. Serjeant Musgrave's Dance and the politics of possibility in two television adaptations. Critical Studies in Television. 9 (3), pp. 89-99. https://doi.org/10.7227/CST.9.3.9

Television
Wyver, J. 2014. Television. in: Stephens, C. and Stonard, J.-P. (ed.) Kenneth Clark: Looking for Civilisation London Tate Publishing. pp. 123-32

'All the trimmings'? The transfer of theatre to television in adaptations of Shakespeare stagings
Wyver, J. 2014. 'All the trimmings'? The transfer of theatre to television in adaptations of Shakespeare stagings. Adaptation. 7 (2), pp. 104-120. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apu020

Julius Caesar
Wyver, J. 2012. Julius Caesar.

Dallas Bower: a producer for television's early years, 1936-39
Wyver, J. 2012. Dallas Bower: a producer for television's early years, 1936-39. Journal of British Cinema and Television. 9 (1), pp. 26-39. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2012.0058

Screen play: theatre plays on British television
Wyver, J. and Wrigley, A. 2012. Screen play: theatre plays on British television. Viewfinder: Moving Image and Sound, Knowledge and Access. 86.

Art of faith
Wyver, J. and McCarthy, J. 2010. Art of faith.

Macbeth
Wyver, J. and Grant, S. 2010. Macbeth.

Interactive documentaries: a golden age
Ursu, M.F., Zsombori, V., Wyver, J., Conrad, L., Kegel, I. and Williams, D. 2009. Interactive documentaries: a golden age. Computers in Entertainment. 7 (3). https://doi.org/10.1145/1594943.1594953

TV against TV: video art on television
Wyver, J. Forthcoming. TV against TV: video art on television. in: Comer, S. (ed.) Film and Video Art London Tate Publishing.

Hamlet
Wyver, J. and Grant, S. 2009. Hamlet.

Tv against TV: video art on television
Wyver, J. 2009. Tv against TV: video art on television. in: Comer, S. (ed.) Film and video art London Tate Publishing.

ShapeShifting TV: interactive screen media narratives
Ursu, M.F., Kegel, I., Williams, D., Thomas, M., Mayer, H., Zsombori, V., Tuomola, M.L., Larsson, H. and Wyver, J. 2008. ShapeShifting TV: interactive screen media narratives. Multimedia Systems. 4 (2), pp. 115-132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00530-008-0119-z

ShapeShifting TV: interactive screen media narratives
Ursu, M.F., Kegel, I.C., Williams, D., Thomas, M., Mayer, H., Zsombori, V., Tuomola, M.L., Larsson, H. and Wyver, J. 2008. ShapeShifting TV: interactive screen media narratives. Multimedia Systems. 4 (2), pp. 115-132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00530-008

The eternity man
Wyver, J., Blight, R. and Fleetwood, A. 2008. The eternity man.

Spider in the city: la machine in Liverpool
Wyver, J. 2008. Spider in the city: la machine in Liverpool.

Art of faith
Wyver, J. 2008. Art of faith.

Vision on: film, television and the arts in Britain
Wyver, J. ten Brink, J. (ed.) 2007. Vision on: film, television and the arts in Britain. London, UK Wallflower Press.

Conceiving ShapeShifting TV: a computational language for truly-interactive TV
Ursu, M.F., Cook, J.J., Zsombori, V., Zimmer, R., Kegel, I., Williams, D., Thomas, M., Wyver, J. and Mayer, H. 2007. Conceiving ShapeShifting TV: a computational language for truly-interactive TV. in: Cesar, P., Chorianopoulos, K. and Jensen, J.F. (ed.) Interactive TV: a shared experience Berlin Springer.

The art of Henry Moore
Wyver, J. 2005. The art of Henry Moore.

theEYE
Wyver, J. 2002. theEYE.

Macbeth
Wyver, J. and Grant, S. 2001. Macbeth.

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/v72z0/bert-hardy-exercises-with-photography-and-film


Share this

Usage statistics

195 total views
93 total downloads
These values cover views and downloads from WestminsterResearch and are for the period from September 2nd 2018, when this repository was created.