Social Inequality and British Documentary Style: Bert Hardy’s photographs for Picture Post magazine, 1940-57

Aims and objectives This project focuses on the social documentary work of photojournalist Bert Hardy (1913-95), chief photographer for the popular British photo-magazine, Picture Post (1938-57). The magazine and Hardy were a vital force in pioneering an influential documentary style in mid-century Britain which in turn played its part in reshaping the postwar social contract. Research will address Hardy’s extensive photography across all four nations of the UK of working-class lives, urban deprivation and rural poverty, as well as Britain’s diverse communities and their experience of racism. Project rationale Research on social documentary photography in Britain is dominated by concern with artistic movements in the late-twentieth century. Scholarly reconsideration of the culture, aesthetics and materiality of mid-century photojournalism is in its infancy (e.g. Nead, 2017; Allbeson & Colquhoun, 2022). Based on a format imported from continental Europe by the magazine’s found editor (Stefan Lorant), Picture Post’s engagement with social inequality can be categorised into three broad phases: An optimistic, future-focused interwar and wartime debate concerning reform and latterly postwar reconstruction (1938-45). A progressive, critical visual discourse on social ills (1945-50). A negative, conservative rhetoric about disadvantaged social groups or marginalised communities (1951-57). Hardy’s rich and prolific output exemplifies all three phases. As the first doctoral project dedicated to Hardy’s career, it will explore the roots, significance and legacies of his definitive achievements in the field of social documentary photography. Research questions What social, personal, local, political, publishing and aesthetic histories account for the emergence of progressive photojournalism in mid-century Britain? How should we periodise and characterise the documentary style or visual rhetoric mobilised by Hardy and Picture Post editors to expose varying types of social inequalities in mid-century Britain? What was the legacy of Hardy’s work at Picture Post for cultures and histories of photography in late-twentieth-century Britain?