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Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated

Tom Allbeson

Journal of Modern History, Volume: 87, Issue: 3, Pages: 532 - 578

Swansea University Author: Tom Allbeson

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DOI (Published version): 10.1086/682677

Abstract

The article highlights the need for a sustained and critical engagement with photography as primary material, outlining an approach to press photographs for the research and writing of contemporary European history in particular. An interdisciplinary model of the published photograph is proposed, dr...

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Published in: Journal of Modern History
ISSN: 00222801
Published: 2015
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23840
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first_indexed 2015-11-10T01:52:53Z
last_indexed 2021-01-30T03:39:03Z
id cronfa23840
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spelling 2021-01-29T12:20:10.6177431 v2 23840 2015-10-16 Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated 73c561ddc1a5aa7c86826a3f53af9135 Tom Allbeson Tom Allbeson true false 2015-10-16 AHIS The article highlights the need for a sustained and critical engagement with photography as primary material, outlining an approach to press photographs for the research and writing of contemporary European history in particular. An interdisciplinary model of the published photograph is proposed, drawing on and explaining the pertinence of four key concepts: discourse, visuality, agency and the mobility of the photograph. I assert that the historical study of press photographs should approach and analyse the photographic image as a discursive and intentional visual object in use. This interdisciplinary model of the published photograph is then employed in a detailed examination of the publication and appropriation of Herbert Mason’s iconic photograph of St Paul’s taken in December 1940. Although Mason’s iconic photograph is by itself ambiguous, its repeated publication in a number of determinate contexts has resulted in a contested significance which—if carefully adumbrated—illuminates key cultural values at stake in debates about the air war, postwar reconstruction and the social contract in Britain. Tracing the image across seven decades, I argue that images are as much agents of history as are ideas, institutions and individuals. Journal Article Journal of Modern History 87 3 532 578 00222801 30 9 2015 2015-09-30 10.1086/682677 COLLEGE NANME History COLLEGE CODE AHIS Swansea University 2021-01-29T12:20:10.6177431 2015-10-16T16:05:45.8214597 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History Tom Allbeson 1
title Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
spellingShingle Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
Tom Allbeson
title_short Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
title_full Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
title_fullStr Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
title_full_unstemmed Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
title_sort Visualizing Wartime Destruction and Postwar Reconstruction: Herbert Mason’s Photograph of St. Paul’s Reevaluated
author_id_str_mv 73c561ddc1a5aa7c86826a3f53af9135
author_id_fullname_str_mv 73c561ddc1a5aa7c86826a3f53af9135_***_Tom Allbeson
author Tom Allbeson
author2 Tom Allbeson
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Modern History
container_volume 87
container_issue 3
container_start_page 532
publishDate 2015
institution Swansea University
issn 00222801
doi_str_mv 10.1086/682677
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
document_store_str 0
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description The article highlights the need for a sustained and critical engagement with photography as primary material, outlining an approach to press photographs for the research and writing of contemporary European history in particular. An interdisciplinary model of the published photograph is proposed, drawing on and explaining the pertinence of four key concepts: discourse, visuality, agency and the mobility of the photograph. I assert that the historical study of press photographs should approach and analyse the photographic image as a discursive and intentional visual object in use. This interdisciplinary model of the published photograph is then employed in a detailed examination of the publication and appropriation of Herbert Mason’s iconic photograph of St Paul’s taken in December 1940. Although Mason’s iconic photograph is by itself ambiguous, its repeated publication in a number of determinate contexts has resulted in a contested significance which—if carefully adumbrated—illuminates key cultural values at stake in debates about the air war, postwar reconstruction and the social contract in Britain. Tracing the image across seven decades, I argue that images are as much agents of history as are ideas, institutions and individuals.
published_date 2015-09-30T03:28:12Z
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score 11.016235

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