Bert Hardy (English 1913-1995)

Threatened by Chinese Reds, Tibetans Flee to India, 1951

Vintage ferrotyped gelatin silver print on single-weight paper

Photographer’s “Picture Post” credit stamp with PIX stamp and typewritten title label on verso

Print size: 9 ¾ x 7 ½ inches

Mat size: 14 x 17 inches

Condition: Some surface scuffing; upper left and right corners creased; various handling marks throughout as is typical of prints made for the purpose of the press

BH-TB-03

Retail: $2500-$3500

Bert Hardy (19 May 1913 – 3 July 1995) was a documentary and press photographer known for his work published in the Picture Post magazine between 1941 and 1957.

In 1941, Hardy was recruited by the editor Tom Hopkinson of the leading picture publication of the 1930s and 1940s, Picture Post. Hardy was self-taught and used a Leica —unconventional gear for press photographers of the era— but went on to become the Post's Chief Photographer, after he earned his first photographer credit for his 1 February 1941 photo-essay about Blitz-stressed fire-fighters.

Near the end of World War II, Hardy went to Asia, where he became Lord Mountbatten's personal photographer. He later went on the cover the Korean War along with journalist James Cameron for Picture Post, reporting on United Nations atrocities at Pusan in 1950, and later on that war's turning point, the Battle of Inchon, photojournalism for which he won the Missouri Pictures of the Year Award.

Three of Hardy's photos were used in Edward Steichen's famous Family of Man exhibition and book, though not his favourite photo — which shows two street urchins off on a lark in Gorbals — it nevertheless has come to represent Hardy's documentary skill. Hardy himself was photographed many times, including during the war; three very good photo-portraits of him are currently in the Photographs Collection of the National Portrait Gallery.