Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Craig, Charles (1982) The British documentary photograph as a medium of information and propaganda during the Second World War 1939 - 1945. Masters thesis, Middlesex Polytechnic. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/10174/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. 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See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy Middlesex University Research Repository: an open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Craig, C, 1982. The British Documentary Photograph as a Medium of Information and Propaganda during the Second World War. Available from Middlesex University’s Research Repository. Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work’s full bibliographic details. This thesis/research project may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from it, or its content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. Site iJ1IC:JLE:3CX t).', i \/7:-(",;'!' r I ! 1....':..... i ••_ ;,.~I •• .J _ ~ l' I .... ~I:';'.;,: ~·.:i 1 IN:;. j 3300091 1\- .... -------, .... ...:.].2=-._\718- C''''''~ Cl0Dl ~ I \ L l~lR_e,,~~'~~:'£,:~ C\J2..1!, 0[1.\-0- :;,,4-804-\ t'-\l\-O • '51.\-,&SI'ol\-\ THE BRITISH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPH AS A MEDIUM ~." OF INFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA DURING THE SECOND Q(<;;,.q 3 ::SOO~ WORLD WAR 1939 - 1945 by Charles Craig AIIP MSIAD ARPS ACP A Thesis to be submitted to the Council for National Academic Awards (Committee for Art and Design Research Sub-Committee) for the Degree of Master of Philosophy. Sponsored by the Middlesex Polytechnic in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum. .. "'" July, 1982 \ \ \. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abstract Chapter One Early Developments Chapter Two The Published Photograph Chapter Three - The Documentary Idea Chapter Four British Wartime Photography 1939-1945 Chapter Five Origination and Commission - Part One and Part Two Chapter Six Control and Censorship Chapter Seven Application and Usage Chapter Eight - Retained Images Postcript Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, to all my supervisors and tutors at the Middlesex Polytechnic and Harrow College of Higher Education who have encouraged, supported and sustained my research throughout the past four years. In particular, my thanks to Dr Roy Armes, Duncan Backhouse, and my principal, Dr Roy Harris for providing the framework in which this academic study could take place. To all those at the collaborating establishment, the Imperial War Museum, and in particular to the Keeper of Photographs, Robert Crawford, and the Assistant Keeper, Jane Carmichael. To Mike Willis, in their Photographic Archive, for his forbearance with my incessant telephone calls and requests for information, and to all the Photographic Library staff for their courtesy and help in tracing and placing photographs and documents. Many people who gave their time have been referred to in the .bibliography, but I wo~ld like to make a collective thank-you, as so many extended both their knowledge and the hospitality of their homes, which made the research a pleasant task. My appreciation to them all. For going over and above the call of duty in her time and enthusiasm, I would like also to thank Gail Buckland for her guidance and advice at a time when she was very busy preparing the Cecil Beaton exhibition book. Professors Margaret Harker and Nicholas Pro nay also gave much valuable advice and help at various stages in the project, and Professor Arthur Marwick has been unstinting in his help and critical encouragement throughout the work, and in many ways provided the initial inspiration for the study. Charles Craig Barnet, Herts. July, 1982 THE BRITISH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPH AS A MEDIUM OF INFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945 by Charles Craig AIIP MSIAD ARPS ACP ABSTRACT The use of the documentary photograph as a means of recording war and human conflict is widely accepted, yet rarely analysed in terms of the evidence such images claim to portray. Existing studies have been directed towards the photograph as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end in a broader context. This Thesis will trace the development of the documentary movement in outline, expanding in depth when referring to the British involvement within the tradition during the Second World War. The centrality of the Thesis will rest upon the need to discern between the actuality photograph as evidence when framed or presented within persuasive and propaganda terms, and the record photograph which informs and illustrates by factual content alone. Parallel to this study will be an analysis of the control and censorship process by which photography was disseminated within the media of the period when employed as an instrument reflecting governmental concerns in matters of national morale and the maintenance of social cohesion. Such official considerations have affected the contemporary use of photo­ graphs, which in retrospect have created discrepancies and anomalies in our appreciation of chronological sequences of events and military enterprises. Furthermore, such propaganda constraints have been instrumental in the creation of personas - and the myths that often surround them - both in terms of context and historical perspective. A methodology will be offered by which these tensions of control and censorship allied to the documentary tradition may be demystified, so that both the propaganda and record photograph can be assessed not only in their original contemporary context, but as sources of historical data and information. Chapter One - Early Developments Early perceptions concerning the role of photography were as confused as the divergent paths that led to the discovery of the medium itself. Two primary streams of development quickly asserted themselves, however, among the serious practioners of photography, and have subsequently formed the basis for expansion and diversification. These could be termed 'truth-telling' and 'beautification,1 - the first having a moral and literary pedigree, the latter originating from within the fine-art traditions and practice of the period. The first of these - aptly termed 'record photography' by Professor Margaret Harker2 - grew .from the early pre-occupation of photographers with topographical subjects. The Victorians were eager to see those aspects of life and culture which, prior to the evolution of photography, had merely been represented ambivalently through the written or spoken word, or in the representations of illustrators or artists. From this enthusiastic application of photography as a recording medium, there emerged the expedition and travel photographers, typified by Francis Frith.7 Encumbered by the bulk of the equipment then in use, Frith made three expeditions to Egypt and the Near East between 1856 and 1860, and photographed anything that interested him. His photographs were published in book-form, and being produced prior to the advent of the half-tone reprographic process, were virtually albums of photographic prints in a bound format. The general approach of such travel photographers was matched in the more specialised