Candid camera
The Graphic was founded in 1869 with the intention of using a wider range of illustrative technologies to advance social and political causes. By 1882 the paper was employing over 1000 people and fostered a range of artistic talents. In the 20th century it quickly adapted to the potentials of both new forms of artistic representation and of photojournalism. In terms of the former, these included experiments with abstract art, updates on the traditional caricature (including the work of Emery Kelen) and sardonic takes on the traditional portraiture of the upper classes. In terms of the latter, lighter and more mobile cameras allowed new, intimate settings to be brought into the public eye. In the 1930s the Graphic published regular spreads from its ‘Candid Camera’.
The anonymous photographer behind most of these shots was Erich Salomon, perhaps the world’s first photojournalist, operating under the pseudonym ‘Cyclops’. By 1931, Salomon had acquired a reputation for capturing candid photographs of politics in action. While other photographers would take laboriously set up posed portraits with heavy equipment and startling flashes, Salomon used a lightweight Ermanox camera to capture the unguarded expressions and postures of his subjects. His intrusions were not always welcomed, but Salomon was adept at using subterfuge to infiltrate closed venues, dressing as a diplomat with his camera disguised in a bowler hat, briefcase or pile of hollowed-out books. He was drawn to conference spaces and his visual legacy constitutes an archive of many of the interwar period’s most significant political event and figures. Many of Salomon’s photographs are available to view at the Berlinische Galerie and the International Center of Photography.