Mass-observation and visual culture : depicting everyday lives in Britain / Lucy D. Curzon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Curzon, Lucy D., author.

Series:

British art. Histories and interpretations since 1700

British Art: Histories and Interpretations Since 1700

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working class in art.

Art, British--20th century--Social aspects.

Art, British.

Art and society--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Art and society.

History.

Social aspects.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xii, 178 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge Ltd. 2017.

Summary:

Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain' critically analyses the role that visual culture played in the early development of Mass-Observation, the innovative British anthropological research group founded in 1937. The group's production and use of painting, collage, photography, and other media illustrates not only the broad scope of Mass-Observation's efforts to document everyday life, but also, more specifically, the centrality of visual elements to its efforts at understanding national identity in the 1930s. Although much interest has previously focused on Mass-Observation's use of written reports and opinion surveys, as well as diaries that were kept by hundreds of volunteer observers, this book is the first full-length study of the group's engagement with visual culture. 0Exploring the paintings of Graham Bell and William Coldstream; the photographs of Humphrey Spender; the paintings, collages, and photographs of Julian Trevelyan; and Humphrey Spender's photographs and widely recognized 'Mass-Observation film', Spare Time, among other sources, Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain positions these works as key sources of information with regard to illuminating the complex character of British identity during the Depression era.

Contents:

1 Another place in time: Humphrey Spender's northern photographs 18

2 Julian Trevelyan: 'Jekyll' and 'Hyde' 50

3 The Euston Road in Worktown 82

4 Imagining the nation: May the Twelfth and Spare Time 119.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781472436504

1472436504

OCLC:

966560171