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''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. It has been called the UK's equivalent of '' Life'' magazine. The magazine’s editorial stance was
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...
,
anti-Fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
and populistHulton, Archive – History in Pictures
History of ''Picture Post'' by the Archive Curator Sarah McDonald, 15/10/04. Accessed March 2008
and from its inception, ''Picture Post'' campaigned against the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. In the 26 November 1938 issue, a picture story was run entitled "Back to the Middle Ages": photographs of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
,
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 194 ...
and Hermann Göring were contrasted with the faces of those scientists, writers and actors they were persecuting.


History

In January 1941 ''Picture Post'' published their "Plan for Britain". This included minimum wages throughout industry, full employment, child allowances, a national health service, the planned use of land and a complete overhaul of education. This document led to discussions about post-war Britain and was a populist forerunner of
William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 1942 ...
's November 1942 Report. Sales of ''Picture Post'' increased further during World War II, and by December 1943, the magazine was selling 1,950,000 copies a week. By the end of 1949 circulation had declined to 1,422,000. The founding editor,
Stefan Lorant Stefan Lorant ( hu, Lóránt István; February 22, 1901 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary – November 14, 1997 in Rochester, Minnesota) was a pioneering Hungarian-American filmmaker, photojournalist, and author. Early work He was born on February 22 ...
(who had also founded '' Lilliput'' and had even earlier pioneered the picture-story in Germany in the 1920s), had been succeeded by (Sir)
Tom Hopkinson Sir Henry Thomas Hopkinson (19 April 1905 – 20 June 1990) was a British journalist, picture magazine editor, author, and teacher. Early life Born in Manchester, his father was a Church of England clergyman and a scholar, and his mother had ...
in 1940. Lorant, who was Jewish, had been imprisoned by Hitler in the early 1930s and later wrote a best-selling book, ''I Was Hitler's Prisoner''. By 1940, he feared that he would be captured in a Nazi invasion of Britain and so fled to Massachusetts, where he wrote important illustrated US histories and biographies. During World War II, the art editor of the magazine, Edgar Ainsworth, served as a war correspondent and accompanied the American 7th Army on its advance across Europe in 1945. He visited the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, i ...
three times after the British army liberated the complex in April 1945. Several of his sketches and drawings from the camp were published in a September 1945 article, ''Victim and Prisoner''. Ainsworth also commissioned the artist
Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...
to visit France and Germany at the end of the war and reported from Bergen-Belsen. Hopkinson said that his photographers were thoroughbreds and that text could always be written after the event, but if his photographers did not come back with good pictures, he had nothing to work with. Years later, Hopkinson said that the greatest photos he ever received to lay out were
Bert Hardy Albert William Thomas Hardy (19 May 1913 – 3 July 1995) was an English documentary and press photographer known for his work published in the ''Picture Post'' magazine between 1941 and 1957. Life and work Born in Blackfriars, Bert Hardy rose ...
's images from the Korean War's
Battle of Incheon The Battle of Incheon (), also spelled Battle of Inchon, was an amphibious invasion and a battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations Command (UN). The operation involved ...
, for which
James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...
wrote the article. The magazine's greatest photographers included Hardy,
Kurt Hutton Kurt Hutton (born Kurt Hübschmann; 1893 in Strasbourg – 1960) was a German-born photographer who pioneered photojournalism in England. Life Beginning his career with the Dephot agency in Germany, he migrated to England in 1934 and worked for ...
,
Felix H. Man Hans Felix Sigismund Baumann aka Felix H. Man (November 30, 1893 – January 30, 1985) was a photographer and later an art collector.Francis Reiss,
Thurston Hopkins Godfrey Thurston Hopkins (16 April 1913 – 27 October 2014), known as Thurston Hopkins, was a well-known British ''Picture Post'' photojournalist and a centenarian. Education Hopkins was born on 16 April 1913 in south London, son of Sybil (né ...
, John Chillingworth,
Grace Robertson Grace Robertson (13 July 1930Ms Grace Robertson, OBE
Debret ...
, and Leonard McCombe, who eventually joined ''Life'' magazine's staff. Staff writers included MacDonald Hastings, Lorna Hay,
Sydney Jacobson Sydney Jacobson, Baron Jacobson MC, (26 October 1908, Zeerost, Transvaal – 13 August 1988, St Albans, Hertfordshire) was a British journalist, editor and political commentator. Early years Jacobson was the only son and elder child of ...
,
J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in '' The Good Comp ...
, Lionel Birch, James Cameron,
Fyfe Robertson James Fyfe Robertson (19 August 1902 – 4 February 1987) was a Scottish television journalist and broadcaster. Biography Robertson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was one of six children of Jane Dunlop and James Robertson, a miner w ...
,
Anne Scott-James Anne Eleanor Scott-James, Lady Lancaster (5 April 1913 – 13 May 2009) was a British journalist and author. She was one of United Kingdom, Britain's first female career journalists, editing, editors and columnists, and latterly author of a ...
,
Robert Kee Robert Kee (5 October 1919 – 11 January 2013) was a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland. Life and career He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history ...
and
Bert Lloyd Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908 – 29 September 1982),Eder, Bruce. (29 September 1982A. L. Lloyd - Music Biography, Credits and Discography AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-02-24. usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English f ...
. Many freelancer writers contributed as well, including
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
,
Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhapp ...
, and
William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...
. On 17 June 1950, ''
Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
'' magazine was incorporated in ''Picture Post''. Editor Tom Hopkinson was often in conflict with (Sir) Edward G. Hulton, the owner of ''Picture Post''. Hulton mainly supported the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and objected to Hopkinson's socialist views. The conflict led to Hopkinson's dismissal in 1950 following the publication of Cameron's article, with pictures by Hardy, about South Korea's treatment of political prisoners in the Korean War. By June 1952, circulation had fallen to 935,000. Sales continued to decline in the face of competition from television and a revolving door of new editors. By the time the magazine closed in July 1957, circulation was less than 600,000 copies a week. ''Picture Post'' was digitised as The Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938–1957 and consists of the complete, fully searchable facsimile archive of the ''Picture Post''. It was made available in 2011 to libraries and institutions.


Hulton Press Library

As the photographic archive of ''Picture Post'' expanded through the Second World War, it became clear that its vast collection of photographs and negatives, both published and unpublished, were becoming an important historical documentary resource. In 1945, Sir Edward Hulton set up the Hulton Press Library as a semi-independent operation. He commissioned Charles Gibbs-Smith of the Victoria and Albert Museum to catalogue the entire archive using a system of keywords and classifications. The Gibbs-Smith system was the world’s first indexing system for pictures, and it was eventually adopted by the Victoria and Albert Museum and parts of the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
collections. When ''Picture Post'' folded, Sir Edward Hulton sold the archive collection to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
in 1957. It was incorporated into the ''
Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' photo archive, and the BBC expanded the collection further with the purchase of the photo archives of the '' Daily Express'' and ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after b ...
'' newspapers. Eventually, the BBC disposed of its photo archive and the BBC Hulton Picture Library was sold on once more, this time to Brian Deutsch, in 1988. In 1996, the Hulton Picture Collection was bought by Getty Investments for £8.6 million. Getty Images now owns the rights to some 15 million photographs from the British press archives dating back to the 19th century. In 2000, Getty embarked on a large project to digitise the photo archive, and launched a dedicated website in 2001. A data migration programme began in 2003 and the Hulton Archive was transferred to the main Getty Images website; the Hulton Archive is still available today as a featured resource within the vast Getty holdings.


Present day: "Picture Stories"

A documentary about the life and photographic legacy of Picture Post,
Picture Stories
, was produced by Ship of Life Films in 2021. The documentary features archive interviews with editors Stefan Lorant and Tom Hopkinson and several Picture Post photographers, including
Bert Hardy Albert William Thomas Hardy (19 May 1913 – 3 July 1995) was an English documentary and press photographer known for his work published in the ''Picture Post'' magazine between 1941 and 1957. Life and work Born in Blackfriars, Bert Hardy rose ...
,
Thurston Hopkins Godfrey Thurston Hopkins (16 April 1913 – 27 October 2014), known as Thurston Hopkins, was a well-known British ''Picture Post'' photojournalist and a centenarian. Education Hopkins was born on 16 April 1913 in south London, son of Sybil (né ...
, John Chillingworth, 
Humphrey Spender Humphrey Spender (19 April 1910 – 11 March 2005) was a British photographer, painter, and designer. Family and education Humphrey Spender was the third son of Harold Spender, a journalist and writer. Humphrey's mother, Violet Schuster, came ...
and David Steen. It also includes the photographer
Grace Robertson Grace Robertson (13 July 1930Ms Grace Robertson, OBE
Debret ...
's last interview, in which she discusses her classic picture story Mother's Day Off. Modern-day documentary photographers including
David Hurn David Hurn (born 21 July 1934) is a British documentary photographer and member of Magnum Photos. Life and work Hurn was born on 21 July 1934 in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was raised in Cardiff, Wales. Because of his dyslexia he joined ...
,
Daniel Meadows Daniel Meadows (born 1952) is an English photographer turned maker of digital stories, and a teacher of photography turned teacher of participatory media. Life and career as photographer Meadows was born in Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire, " ...
, Anna Fox, Homer Sykes, Peter Dench and Nick Turpin discuss the photography and influence of Picture Post. "Picture Stories" received positive reviews and won the Audience Award at the 2021 UK Jewish Film Festival. The Guardian gave the documentary a 4-star review, describing it as "inspiring".


References


Citations


Sources

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External links

* {{cite web , url=https://www.gettyimages.ie/photos/picture-post?family=editorial&phrase=picture%20post&sort=mostpopular , title=picture post photos , publisher= Getty Images , access-date=16 May 2020 Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Getty Images Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1938 Magazines disestablished in 1957 Photojournalistic magazines Photography in the United Kingdom Stock photography 1938 establishments in the United Kingdom 1957 disestablishments in the United Kingdom