Picture Post and the photographic essay: émigré photographers and visual narratives, 1938-1945

Schulman, Amy Alice (2018). Picture Post and the photographic essay: émigré photographers and visual narratives, 1938-1945. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the pioneering British weekly magazine Picture Post (1938-1957) which introduced a mass audience to the innovative style of European photojournalism characterised by the format ofthe photographic essay. Founded by the Hungarian emigre, Stefan Lorant (1901-1997) and led by Sir Tom Hopkinson (1905-1990) from 1940 until 1950, Picture Post has not yet been the focus of a single academic publication. This thesis explores the concept of visual narration through a selection of photographic essays published in the magazine between 1938 and 1945, and utilises the unpublished corresponding contact sheets to expose the manipulation of photographs. The present work has utilised archival material of the Picture Post archive, which forms pmi of the Hulton Archive at Getty Images, London, to inform a discussion surrounding the topics of manipulation, migration and memory in relation to photography, in order to identify the specific approach of Picture Post to photographic narration. The subject of migration and visual narrative is of great importance to this study, and so this thesis will promote the significance of the presence of emigre photographers in Britain during the Second World War, in order to redefine the analytical framework for looking at the photographic essay.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):