Self-Portrait

Date

1934

Creator

Brandt took this photograph while collecting images for [his photobook] The English Home. It is one of several made at his uncle Henry's house in the exclusive London borough of South Kensington. Another photograph taken that evening, Dinner Is Served is one of the best-known images from The English Home. It shows tense anticipation as the stern parlormaid stands beside her apprehensive young assistant as guests seat themselves for dinner. Here, in a shot snapped with the automatic timer of Brandt's Leica, the maid waits upon Brandt himself, serving the cheese course later in the same meal. The puffy form of the maid's starched white cap dominates the composition. Along with her lacy collar, cuffs and apron, it is characteristic of a very expensive costume that proclaims her station. The young man wears a parallel uniform: a dinner jacket, boiled shirt and silk tie. Their customary, formal interchange takes place at a table set with porcelain, crystal and polished silver, while an oil painting glitters in electrified light behind them. This realm of privilege is also one of strict order. from Acton, A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame: Twentieth Century (Notre Dame, 2019)