A selection of the works on show in Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny. Select the OPEN links to read more about a work, and select the image to enlarge it.
Photographed about 1935
This was Tudor-Hart?s most popular photograph during the 1930s and was reproduced in a number of propaganda pamphlets. The juxtaposition of the plentitude of the bakery window with the dishevelled and hungry child reinforced the opposition of rich and poor, one of the key political dynamics of the era. Along with the illustrators Pearl Binder and James Fitton, Tudor-Hart planned a book titled `Rich Man, Poor Man? which was never published. This photograph might have been the volume?s front cover; its message was quickly grasped and its sentiment was appealing to British audiences.
about 1935 (negative)
Edith Tudor Hart was in South Wales in the 1930s following her husband's appointment as a GP there. As communists they would have sympathised with the economic hardship of the miners in the Rhondda valley. During the industrial depression following the First World War, unemployment figures in the area soared. With the help of other unions, the National Unemployed Workers' Movement (NUWM) organised Hunger Marches, which demanded more fair unemployment legislation. This photograph was taken during one such demonstration, with the photographer perched on a post opposite the crowd of men.
Photographed 1949
This photograph was taken for a photo essay titled `A School Where Love is a Cure? which appeared in `Picture Post? in 1949. It covered the work of the Camphill School at Bieldside, near Aberdeen. Established in 1940 by an Austrian exile, Karl Konig, the school offered residential accommodation for children with learning disabilities. Konig?s theory of ?curative education? placed emphasis on community, a value he felt was expressed in his own history as a refugee from fascism. His care was in great demand: by 1949 the school housed seventy-five staff and 180 pupils. The article?s explanation of Camphill?s work was progressive for the time and brought to public attention issues that were usually ignored outside professional circles.
about 1931 (negative)
Before marrying Edith Tudor Hart had studied photography at the Bauhaus in Dessau. The concerns of this school are obvious in the geometries and startling perspective of this image. Note the exaggerated size of the steel supports of the wheel and the minute figures of the people standing on the ground. The photographer's eagerness to document the dynamism of urban life suggests she was aware of developments in Soviet avant-garde photography.
Photographed about 1932
Tudor-Hart worked extensively amongst working-class communities in East and North London, photographing children on the streets and families in their homes. She was part of a larger movement on the left concerned about the effect of widespread slum housing. However, Tudor-Hart?s imagery is rarely merely propaganda and her ability to connect with those she photographs ? often women and children ? is evident. This complex photograph explores the photographer?s relationship to her subjects. Shot deliberately through the window it emphasises her voyeurism, thus limiting the sentimental impact of the image.
Photographed 1937
In May 1937 nearly 4000 children arrived by boat in Southampton, refugees from the civil war-ravaged towns of northern Spain. Suffering terrible sea-sickness, they underwent medical examination before being housed in a temporary camp at nearby North Stoneham. Aged mostly between five and sixteen, and from both sides of the conflict, they were to be rehoused by the Basque Children?s Committee in residential `colonies? around the country. Tudor-Hart?s photographs of the camp were a contribution to the cause and some were eventually published in a book about the refugees? experience. Not surprisingly, she was particularly attentive to the plight of the Republican children. She was also sensitive to the clash of cultures, with Basque and English children portrayed working and playing together.
Photographed 1937
This is a captivating image showing a group of children surrounded by cabbages that they are preparing. They are refugees from civil war-ravaged towns of northern Spain. In May 1937 nearly 4000 children arrived by boat in Southampton. Suffering terrible sea-sickness, they underwent medical examination before being housed in a temporary camp at nearby North Stoneham. Aged mostly between five and sixteen, and from both sides of the conflict, they were to be rehoused by the Basque Children?s Committee in residential `colonies? around the country. Refugees were settled as far north as Montrose in north east Scotland.
Photographed about 1936 - 1937
This photograph was published alongside `Gee Street, Finsbury, London? (PGP 279.32B) in the satirical magazine `Lilliput? in 1939, offering a comparison between the living conditions of the urban poor and the care lavished on pets by their wealthy owners. The juxtaposition made a simple political point and encouraged the viewer to think about the unequal organisation of society. This was a rhetorical technique common in left-wing illustrated journals on the Continent. The Austrian magazine, `Der Kuckuck?, had published a similar story in 1931 comparing the living conditions of the Berlin poor with the more salubrious accommodation of the city?s dog home.
Photographed about 1928
This is a very dynamic image showing members of the Social-Democratic Youth Movement marching in Vienna. In the wake of the First World War, the Austrian political parties had a youthful membership ? it is estimated that up to sixty per cent of the Viennese Social Democrats were under forty years of age. The limits of teenagers? political engagement was a particular source of controversy, with many arguing that the youth movement should be more educational than political. Memoirs of the period reveal that political identification was often fluid. A common joke amongst young activists was that you went to bed a Social Democrat and woke up a Communist!
Photographed about 1932
The Karl-Marx-Hof was a fortress-like housing estate built by the Social Democrats between 1927 and 1930. A kilometre in length, its huge walls contained nearly 1400 apartments for Viennese workers. In her photograph of the building Tudor-Hart summons both its strength and sense of modernity. However, the permanence evoked by the architecture soon proved to be more apparent than real. In February 1934, during the short-lived Austrian civil war, the building was shelled by Austro-fascist forces. Out-gunned, and concerned about women and children still in their homes, the Karl-Marx-Hof?s defenders surrendered. The first mass movement against European fascism was easily defeated and the Austrian Social Democrats were driven into illegality and exile.
Photographed about 1932
The precise date and location of this photograph are hard to pin down, but its meaning ? a sign of the gathering Nazi threat ? is unmistakeable. The Austrian Nazi Party grew in strength from the early 1930s, largely in response to a sharp downturn in the economy. It proved particularly popular amongst young people, many suffering long-term unemployment. In 1933, the Austrian Chancellor banned the Party imprisoning many of its activists in concentration camps. Tudor-Hart?s photograph eloquently points to the growing significance during the 1930s of anti-fascist politics for both the Austrian and British left.
Photographed between 1930 and 1933
May Day was the most important event in the urban calendar, a political festival on a mass scale that validated Vienna?s status as a socialist city. Marchers converged on the city centre from all quarters, led by the powerful Austrian Social Democratic Party. However, as political tensions heightened May Day marches became an arena of conflict, between different left-wing factions and an increasingly authoritarian national government. Tudor-Hart has candidly captured a marcher being detained. She herself was arrested shortly after.
![The Lobau, an area of water and forest to the east of Vienna, was promoted by the Social Democrats as a place of healthy recreation for the city?s working class. In 1932, Tudor-Hart contributed to a photo essay on the Lobau in the illustrated magazine `Der Kuckuck?. Titled `Wildbaden in der Lobau? [Free Bathing in the Lobau], the essay emphasised that an area that was once a playground of the imperial monarchy was now open to the people of Vienna. This photograph was captioned `Kurhotel Lobau? [Spa Hotel Lobau], an ironic reference to the facilities previously enjoyed only by Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.](http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media/42/collection/PGP 279_23A.jpg)
Photographed 1932
The Lobau, an area of water and forest to the east of Vienna, was promoted by the Social Democrats as a place of healthy recreation for the city?s working class. In 1932, Tudor-Hart contributed to a photo essay on the Lobau in the illustrated magazine `Der Kuckuck?. Titled `Wildbaden in der Lobau? [Free Bathing in the Lobau], the essay emphasised that an area that was once a playground of the imperial monarchy was now open to the people of Vienna. This photograph was captioned `Kurhotel Lobau? [Spa Hotel Lobau], an ironic reference to the facilities previously enjoyed only by Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.
Photographed 1932
Throughout the 1920s Vienna was afflicted by high levels of unemployment, a source of social unrest. Some estimates suggest that by 1933 this affected as many as 750,000 people, or forty percent of the urban labour force. The social-democratic administration worked hard to alleviate unemployment?s worst aspects, paying special attention to working-class housing and cultural provision in the city. However, they did little to resolve inequality and the social-democratic leadership was frequently accused of valuing cultural over political and economic struggle. Tudor-Hart photographed both the effects of unemployment and the Social Democrats? efforts to improve the lives of the city?s working class. Her images reflect the stark contradictions of interwar Vienna.
Photographed about 1931
Caledonian Market was one of the largest flea-markets in London during the 1930s. It was popular with photographers as it offered easy access to a lively aspect of the city?s working-class culture. Fellow exiles such as Bill Brandt and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy also photographed there, perhaps because it provided an echo of a complex street life commonplace on the Continent. Tudor-Hart published a photo essay about Caledonian Market in the illustrated magazine `Der Kuckuck? in 1931 titled `The Market of Naked Misery?. As she wrote, ?of all the working-class districts in Europe?s great cities, those in London are the bleakest?. Here, the focus is on the dynamic between the three central figures.
Photographed about 1932
Modling, to the South of Vienna, was a popular weekend resort with good bathing facilities and easy access to nature. With a working-class population suffering high levels of disease, and in particular tuberculosis, municipal bathing was a political priority for Viennese authorities. By 1927 public swimming pools in Vienna received nine million visits. It was still rare, however, for municipal housing to be built with private bathrooms. The comparative novelty of photography as a mass leisure pursuit was also something Tudor-Hart felt it important to document. Shown here by the family posing for a group photograph.
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