Mass-Observation and Visual Culture

<p>Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain critically analyses the role that visual culture played in the early development of Mass-Observation the innovative British anthropological research group founded in 1937. The group's production and use of painting collage photography and other media illustrates not only the broad scope of Mass-Observation's efforts to document everyday life but also more specifically the centrality of visual elements to its efforts at understanding national identity in the 1930s. </p><p></p><p>Although much interest has previously focused on Mass-Observation's use of written reports and opinion surveys as well as diaries that were kept by hundreds of volunteer observers this book is the first full-length study of the group's engagement with visual culture. Exploring the paintings of Graham Bell and William Coldstream; the photographs of Humphrey Spender; the paintings collages and photographs of Julian Trevelyan; and Humphrey Spender's photographs and widely recognized 'Mass-Observation film' Spare Time among other sources Mass-Observation and Visual Culture: Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain positions these works as key sources of information with regard to illuminating the complex character of British identity during the Depression era. </p>