Bill Brandt

Anglo-German Brandt's moments were as decisive as Cartier-Bresson's, but he preferred to make obvious who had done the deciding. These gorgeous silver prints relish every detail: feet pop up out of the frame, wittily reflected in the doors behind them; a young woman's limbs and torso twine across a picture like rope. His surrealism has odd touches of tenderness, as does his social commentary, but don't mistake him for a photojournalist - he was no preserver of empirical truths. (NC)