Co-curators: Hripsimé Visser, former curator at Stedelijk Museum, Foam curator Claartje van Dijk, and exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries, in collaboration with NIOD Institute
Marius Meijboom (Dutch, 1911-1998) Hunger Winter February 1945 Marius Meijboom / Niod
Iconic photo of Henkie Holvast from the Jordaan, 9 years old
Resist!
The photograph of Henkie Holvast (February 1945, above) is an example of the famine the Nazis inflicted on the general population of the Netherlands during the last year of the Second World War.
I’ll leave you to make the correlation between these historical events and what is happening in Gaza today … and to understand the hypocrisy and evil of contemporary acts.
Like the photojournalists that are being targeted and killed for reporting the truth of the situation in Gaza, so these photographers would have been killed by the Nazis for photographing the occupation of the Netherlands if they had been caught.
“Verzet! Verzet!” (Resist! Resist!)
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to Foam, Amsterdam for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
“The exhibition The Underground Camera captures the hunger and hardship in Amsterdam during the final year of World War II, but also sheds light on the untold stories behind the images, offering fresh perspectives.”
“Verzet! Verzet!” (Resist! Resist!) is spray painted boldly on a public wall, confronting the public in Cas Oorthuys’s Verzetsleuzen op een schuilbunker Kwakersplein (Resistance slogans on a bunker at Kwakersplein), taken in Amsterdam between 1944-1945. In many ways this image serves as a visual manifesto for The Underground Camera, the new exhibition at Foam Amsterdam, articulating the collective’s commitment to resistance, subversion, and the political potential of the photographic image.
The Underground Camera, a group of Amsterdam based photographers, made the life-threatening and courageous decision to photograph the Nazi occupation of Holland, specifically the famine of 1944-45 in Amsterdam as a result of the Nazis blocking food transport. The photographers, recruited by members of the Dutch resistance, were tasked with making the unseen visible. The intention was to inform the Dutch government working in exile in London to advocate for food drops on their behalf while also documenting the conditions of the occupation, creating evidence in the event the Nazis would be held accountable. A general ban on photography was implemented in 1944 by the occupation, so The Underground Camera followed through with illegal acts carried out discreetly, often hiding the cameras under their garments.
Not only was participating in illegal acts under the Nazi occupation dangerous, but being associated with the resistance otten carried dire consequences. By highlighting the potential fatality of the mission, its dangerous conditions, and the equipment that was difficult to obtain at the time and often poor quality, Foam’s exhibit allows the audience to witness a quiet rebellion. A rebellion that is often overlooked not only in the history of photography, but in history as a whole.
With this exhibit, the courageous and inspiring group finally gets their time of recognition.
The Underground Camera, initially known as the more unassuming ‘Nederland Archief’ (Netherlands Archive), significantly contributed to the retelling of history regarding Germany’s occupation during the war, viewing the camera as both a witness and a weapon. The idea of the camera as a weapon is underscored by many academic discourses surrounding documentary war photography. A camera has the potential to become a tool of war whose target is completely dependent on the intention of the one shooting, but in this case of the camera has actively deconstructed propaganda while also holding the occupiers accountable.
There are many unknowns when it comes to this group. Who were the participating photographers, were any were caught, how were they organised, how did they operate, etc. This exhibition is giving them deserved institutional and academic recognition and advocates for their story to be told. The Underground Camera is an incredible show not only because it offers rare glimpses into the realities of war, but because the photographs are a product of courageous resilience.
Foam presents The Underground Camera, an exhibition that features work from Dutch photographers who captured the consequences of the German occupation during the 1944-45 ‘famine winter’ in Amsterdam.
The exhibition The Underground Camera is inspired by the celebrations of Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary and 80 years of liberation.
With their photographs, The Underground Camera group made a significant contribution to the image of the Second World War. The photographers were recruited by members of the resistance, with the aim of informing the Dutch government in London. They worked independently and under the dangerous conditions of an occupied city, with hard-to-obtain, often poor-quality equipment. The exhibition provides an impressive picture of the consequences of hunger and cold in the dismantled Amsterdam at the end of the war.
The group of photographers included Cas Oorthuys, Emmy Andriesse, Charles Breijer, Kryn Taconis, and Ad Windig, among others.
Charles Breijer (Dutch, 1914-2011) Charles Breijer photographs a German-requisitioned building near Vondelpark from his bicycle bag. He inadvertently captures his own shadow Spring 1945 Charles Breijer / Netherlands Photo Museum (NFM)
German guard post in front of the Kriegsmarine building at Emmaplein in Amsterdam. Visible in the foreground is the shadow of photographer Charles Breijer, operating his Rolleiflex camera from his pannier.
Charles Breijer (Dutch, 1914-2011) Andrea Domburg distracts bystanders while Margreet Meijboom-Van Konijnenburg takes the photo from her bag Nd Charles Breijer / Netherlands Photo Museum
Charles Breijer (Dutch, 1914-2011) Margreet Meijboom-van Konijnenbrug (right) demonstrates photographing from a shopping bag. Andrea Domburg, in a nurse’s uniform, accompanies her to keep an eye on the surroundings Nd Charles Breijer / Netherlands Photo Museum
In honour of Amsterdam’s 750th jubilee and the 80th remembrance of the Netherlands’ liberation, Foam presents The Underground Camera (De Ondergedoken Camera). The exhibition showcases images captured by the group of photographers who came to be known by the same name. They photographed the harsh realities of Amsterdam during the ‘Hunger Winter’ of 1944-1945, offering a rare glimpse into the courageous missions of the resistance group and their role in documenting the Nazi occupation. The exhibition features work by renowned Dutch photographers such as Cas Oorthuys, Charles Breijer and Emmy Andriesse.
The resistance group was led by Fritz Kahlenberg and Tonny van Renterghem. In November 1944, when the German administration banned public photography, they – alongside a network of fourteen photographers – worked in secrecy to document the occupation and the resistance. Their efforts, carried out at great personal risk, preserved a crucial visual record of this era. Kahlenberg, a German Jewish filmmaker who had migrated to Amsterdam in 1933, was involved in the forgery of identity cards for the resistance. Van Renterghem had a military background and was also actively involved in resistance work. Although he was not a photographer himself, he played a crucial role in the coordination between The Underground Camera and other resistance groups. The images taken by the photographers of The Underground Camera were intended to be smuggled to London to convince the Dutch government in exile of the need for Allied food droppings in the Netherlands. Today, the photos provide a realistic perspective of daily life in Amsterdam during the last months of the German occupation.
The historical material of the group was stored in various Dutch collections in the form of negatives, original photo prints, albums and picture books. The exhibition sheds light on topics such as the Hunger Winter, the resistance, the illegal press, instances of sabotage, the transport of weapons and the liberation by the Allied Forces.
The Underground Camera is the result of a close collaboration with the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. A publication by the same name, written by NIOD-researchers René Kok and Erik Somers, will be released in March 2025. The exhibition has been co-curated by Hripsimé Visser, former curator of photography at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, in collaboration with exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries.
The Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, will open the exhibition at Foam.
The exhibition The Underground Camera is part of a research trajectory within Foam’s artistic programme, launched in early 2024 under the title The Camera as a Weapon, which included a pop-up exhibition of the same name and a symposium. In a time marked by conflict, Foam poses the question: what can photography do? Through this research line – which also includes the exhibition Sakir Khader – Yawm al-Firak – the museum responds to current events by presenting artistic practices in which the camera is used as a weapon. In light of the national observance of Remembrance Day on 4 May and the national celebration of Liberation Day on 5 May, het Amsterdams 4 en 5 mei comité, in collaboration with Foam en NIOD, will also present an exhibition. This public exhibition will be shown from 29th of April until the 6th of May on the Museumplein.
About The Underground Camera
Kahlenberg and Van Renterghem, the driving forces behind the operation, instructed a group of photographers from their main location at the Michelangelostraat 36 in Amsterdam South from where they oversaw their resistance activities. Many of the The Underground Camera photographers would later become internationally renowned. They concealed their cameras in handbags and jackets in order for them to take the pictures unnoticed. Many used Rolleiflex cameras which had a viewfinder on top, making it easier to take pictures from hip height. Given the danger of being involved in organised resistance, the photographers did not know who else was part of the collective and worked under neutral names such as ‘Netherlands Archive’ (‘Nederlands Archief’) and ‘Central Imagery Archive’ (‘Centraal Beeldarchief’). Just a few weeks after the liberation, in early June 1945, a selection of work was showcased in the exhibition The Underground Camera located in the studio of the photographer Marius Meijboom at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. The exhibition brought national recognition for The Underground Camera’s work, leading the group to officially adopt this name. Now, 80 years later, their legacy returns in a new exhibition along the same canal.
UNESCO included The Underground Camera in its Dutch Memory of the World Register, making it the first photographic legacy ever to receive this prestigious distinction.
The Underground Camera consisted of Tonny van Renterghem (1919-2009), Fritz Kahlenberg (1916-1996), Emmy Andriesse (1914-1953), Carel Blazer (1911-1980), Charles Breijer (1914-2011), Cornelis Holtzapffel (1916-1984), Ingeborg Kahlenberg-Wallheimer (1920-1996), Boris Kowadlo (1912-1959), Frits Lemaire (1921-2005), Marius Meijboom (1911-1998), Margreet Meijboom-van Konijnenburg (1910-onbekend), Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975), Hans Sibbelee (1915-2003), Ben Steenkamp (1917-1967), Ad Windig (1912-1996) and Krijn Taconis (1918-1979). Taconis was the first Dutch person to become a member of renowned international photography collective Magnum.
Press release from Foam
Margaretha van Konijnenburg (1910 – d.) Bicycle raid on the Weteringplantsoen in Amsterdam Autumn 1944
Hans Sibbelee (Dutch, 1915-2003) Children on Sarphatistraat remove the impregnated wooden blocks from between the tram rails, for the stove March 1945
The photographer took the photo from under his jacket
Krijn Taconis (Dutch, 1918-1979) Police officers guarding food supplies in the Amsterdam harbour to prevent looting will receive an extra meal Nd Krijn Taconis / Niod
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) On the way to the soup kitchen Nd BBWO2 / Leiden University Library
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) A man and a woman find some coal remains at the Weesperpoort station in Amsterdam Spring 1945
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) A boy eats a meal from a soup kitchen Nd
H.R. Kettner (Dutch, 1916 – d.) The distribution of groceries became increasingly difficult, resulting in long lines in front of, among other places, the Wijnbergh & Co. store on Middenweg Nd
Other photographs by The Underground Camera photographers
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) Amsterdam tijdens de hongerwinter (Amsterdam during the hunger winter) [1944-1945] Published 1947 Bound volume Closed: 29.21 x 22.86cm (11 1/2 x 9 in.) Open: 29.21 x 44.45cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.) National Gallery of Art Library, David K.E. Bruce Fund
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953)
Emmy Eugenie Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) was a Dutch photographer best known for her work with the Underground Camera group (De Ondergedoken Camera [nl]) during World War II. …
War years and the ‘Underground Camera’
In June 1941 Andriesse married graphic designer and visual artist Dick Elffers (a gentile with whom she had two sons, one who died young), but as a Jew during the Nazi occupation Andriesse was no longer able to publish and she was forced into hiding. At the end of 1944, with the assistance of the anthropologist Arie de Froe [nl] she forged an identity card and re-engaged in everyday life, joining a group of photographers, including Cas Oorthuys and Charles Breijer, working clandestinely as De Ondergedoken Camera. The photos that Andriesse made under very difficult conditions of famine in Amsterdam, include Boy with pan, The Gravedigger and Kattenburg Children are documents of hunger, poverty and misery during the occupation in the “winter of hunger” of 1944-1945.
Post-war
After the war, she became a fashion photographer and was an associate and mentor of Ed van der Elsken. She participated in the group show Photo ’48 and in 1952, together with Carel Blazer [nl], Eva Besnyö and Cas Oorthuys, the exhibition Photographie, both in Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. Edward Steichen chose her 1947 portrait of a staid and elderly Dutch couple for the section ‘we two form a multitude’ in the Museum of Modern Art world-touring The Family of Man that was seen by an audience of 9 million. More recently (October 2006 – January 2007) she was included in a display of Twentieth Century European photography at the Barbican Art Gallery, London.
Andriesse’s last commission, the book The World of Van Gogh – published posthumously in 1953 – was not yet complete when she became ill and after a long battle with cancer, died at the age of 39.
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) Amsterdam tijdens de hongerwinter (Amsterdam during the hunger winter) (detail) 1947 Bound volume Closed: 29.21 x 22.86cm (11 1/2 x 9 in.) Open: 29.21 x 44.45cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.) National Gallery of Art Library, David K.E. Bruce Fund
Steeds grauwer werd het beeld de steden. Schoeisel en kleding raakten totaal versleten.
The image of the cities became increasingly grey. Footwear and clothing became totally worn out.
Emmy Andriesse (Dutch, 1914-1953) Amsterdam tijdens de hongerwinter (Amsterdam during the hunger winter) (detail) 1947 Bound volume Closed: 29.21 x 22.86cm (11 1/2 x 9 in.) Open: 29.21 x 44.45cm (11 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.) National Gallery of Art Library, David K.E. Bruce Fund
De etalages waren leeg of toonden alleen vervangingsmiddelen.
The shop windows were empty or only showed substitutes.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Surf, Bodega 1937 19 x 24cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
Three week’s to the day since my hip replacement operation and I’m still in pain. I know, slowly slowly but it’s very frustrating…
Thus, I just have two words for you about this exhibition –
GREAT WESTERN!
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to the Fundación MAPFRE for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.
It is not far, It is within reach, Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know, Perhaps it is every where on water and land.”
Walt Whitman. Part of Song of Myself from Leaves of Grass. 1855
“I never try to limit myself by theories, I do not question right or wrong approach when I am interested or amazed – impelled to work. I do not fear logic, I dare to be irrational, or really never consider whether I am or not. This keeps me fluid, open to fresh impulse, free from formulae; and precisely because I have no formulae – the public who know my work is often surprised, the critics, who all, or most of them, have their pet formulae are disturbed. And my friends distressed.
I would say to any artist – don’t be repressed in your work – dare to experiment – Consider any urge – if in a new direction all the better – as a gift from the Gods not to be lightly denied by convention or a priori concept. Our time is becoming more and more bound by logic, absolute rationalism; this is a straitjacket I – it is the boredom and narrowness which rises directly from mediocre mass thinking.
The great scientist dares to differ from accepted ‘facts’ -think irrationally – let the artist do likewise.”
Edward Weston 28 January, 1932 from The Daybooks of Edward Weston. Vol. ll Horizon Press, New York 1966
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Guadalupe Marín de Rivera 1924 20.8 x 17.9cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Gift of Ansel and Virginia Adams
Strongly linked to the landscape and to North American cultural history, Edward Weston’s work, in its extreme simplicity and originality, allows us to appreciate a unique perspective on the process of consolidation of photography as an artistic medium and its relevant role in the context of modernity in the visual arts. The exhibition Edward Weston. La matèria de les formes (Edward Weston. The Matter of Forms) is conceived as an anthology that covers the different phases of the artist’s photographic production.
A pioneer in the use of a modern photographic style, his use of the large-format camera gives rise to richly detailed black and white images of extraordinary clarity. His technical expertise and his affection for nature and form led to the development of a body of work in which iconic images of still lifes, nudes, landscapes and portraits stand out. His images are essential for understanding the new aesthetic and new American lifestyle that emerged in the United States between the wars.
The exhibition, curated by Sergio Mah, consists of around two hundred photographs grouped into seven sections. The exhibition tour is completed with numerous documentary material and is conceived from a European perspective on the legacy of modern American photography. An aesthetic and conceptual counterpoint to the photographic modernism in Europe that emerged with the first avant-garde of the 20th century.
The emancipation of photography
Edward Weston was one of the pioneers, along with Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand, in defending the emancipation of photography from other artistic disciplines. In this sense, his work contributed decisively to demonstrating, in this early period of photography, the aesthetic and perceptual dimension of the medium, the capacity to express aesthetic qualities in the same way as painting or sculpture.
Figuration and abstraction
The technical mastery of the photographic medium leads Weston to a formalism in which framing becomes one of the most relevant elements of his work. Weston eliminates any anecdotal aspect and focuses on the motif that interests him, and does so with such realism and exaltation of the two-dimensional nature of photography, which often results in an abstract image. In this way, the artist shows that figuration and abstraction do not exempt one from the other, but are perfectly compatible.
Exhibition organised with the support of the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Text from the Fundación MAPFRE website translated from the Spanish by Google Translate
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Two Shells 1927, print about 1933 24.1 x 18.4cm Gelatin silver print The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Pepper No. 30 1930 22.8 x 17.7cm Gelatin silver print Courtesy by Trockmorton Fine Art
Highlights
Fundación MAPFRE presents the exhibition Edward Weston. The Matter of Forms, dedicated to the five decades of the career of this North American artist, one of the most important figures in modern photography. In addition, through the work of the artist himself, the exhibition aims to offer a pedagogical reflection on the history of the medium and its relevance as an aesthetic and perceptive discipline, apart from the more traditional plastic arts; specifically, painting.
Key points
The emancipation of photography
Edward Weston was one of the pioneers, along with Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand, in defending the emancipation of photography from other artistic disciplines. In this sense, his work is essential to understanding the aesthetic and perceptive capacity of the medium in its beginnings. This capacity allows photography to express aesthetic qualities such as beauty, pain or ugliness at the same level as painting or sculpture.
Figuration and abstraction
The technical mastery of the photographic medium leads Weston to a formalism where framing becomes one of the most relevant elements of his work. In this sense, he eliminates any anecdotal aspect and focuses on the motif that interests him, and he does so with such realism and with such exaltation of the two-dimensional character of photography that he ends up obtaining an abstract image as a result. In this way, the artist shows that figuration and abstraction do not exclude each other, but are perfectly compatible.
Pepper No. 30
Edward Weston took this photograph, one of the most representative of his entire career, at the beginning of August 1930. It was not the first time he had photographed a vegetable, nor a pepper. The artist himself spoke about this image: “It is a fully satisfactory classic: a pepper, but more than a pepper. It is abstract, in the sense that it exists completely outside the subject. It has no psychological attributes, it does not awaken human emotions: this new pepper takes us beyond the world we know in the conscious mind.” In the light of this photograph and the artist’s words, the innovative character of his work can be distinguished, which transcended not only modern American photography, but also European photography.
The exhibition
Weston’s work, strongly linked to the landscape and to North American cultural history, in its extreme simplicity and originality, reveals a unique perspective on the process of consolidation of photography as an artistic medium and its relevant role in the context of modernity in the visual arts. The exhibition Edward Weston. The Matter of Forms is conceived as an anthology that covers the different phases of the artist’s photographic production. From his initial interest in Pictorialist approaches to his consolidation as one of the central figures in the affirmation of the poetic and speculative value of direct photography. A pioneer in the use of a modern photographic style, his work is characterised by the use of a large-format camera, which allows him to offer richly detailed black and white images of extraordinary clarity. His mastery of technique, together with his love of nature and form, led him to develop a photographic production in which iconic images of still lifes, nudes, landscapes and portraits stand out. As a co-founder of the photography collective Group f/64, his images are key to understanding the new North American aesthetic and lifestyle that emerged in the United States between the wars.
The exhibition, grouped into seven sections and curated by Sérgio Mah, consists of around 200 photographs and a large amount of documentary material. The exhibition is conceived as a European look at the legacy of modern North American photography. An aesthetic and conceptual counterpoint to the modern photography that emerged in Europe with the first avant-garde of the 20th century.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Prologue to a Sad Spring 1920 23.8 x 18.7cm Platinum print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Johan Hagemeyer Collection/Purchase
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Edward Weston began photography very early, thanks to a Kodak Bulls-Eye No. 2 camera that his father gave him when he was just sixteen. Although he was practically self-taught, in 1911 he opened his first photographic establishment in a suburb of Los Angeles. His early works reveal the influence of the Pictorialist atmosphere of the time: impressionistic views and pastoral subjects with soft or slightly blurred focus, scenography and expressive poses.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Janitzio, Mexico 1926 20.4 x 25.2cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive/Gift of the Heirs of Edward Weston
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Weston’s dissatisfaction with this artistic approach to photography, which sought to assimilate itself to painting, coincided with the appearance of other photographers with similar ideas, such as Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand, whom he met in New York in 1922. In 1923 he set sail for Mexico accompanied by one of his sons and the photographer Tina Modotti. There he found a true renaissance of the arts and culture, and he came into contact with artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Rafael Sala. He expanded his visual horizon and tackled new themes, photographing objects, figures and motifs far from their original context, turning them into suggestive and extraordinary elements. It was then that he realised that true photographic art is intuitive and immediate, that the elimination of everything that is accessory constitutes the essence of his creative talent.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Excusado, Mexico October 1925 24.1 x 19.1cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
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From 1927, influenced by the humanism of Walt Whitman and his work Leaves of Grass, he felt attracted, in the words of Sérgio Mah, by “the extraordinariness of banality”. Fruits, shells and vegetables became the protagonists of his works, and he made one of his most famous photographs: a toilet, an unusual object as an artistic subject, with the title Excused. In these images, Weston accentuated the two-dimensionality of the motifs, since it was one of the characteristics of photography that interested him. He looked for details as a way of fragmenting, isolating and approximating the photographed object, eliminating the sense of depth, a technique particularly notable in still lifes with dark backgrounds, as is the case with his photographs of peppers.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Floating Nude 1939 19.3 x 24.2cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
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From 1926, after leaving Mexico, Weston photographed several sets of nudes. In these nudes, the photographer’s gaze varies depending on the model. In some cases, the frame is wide and even shows the face, while in others the gaze is more segmented and focuses on parts of the body as a way of cutting out and accentuating the shapes within the frame. It must be recognized that eroticism is a quality present in some of these photographs. However, it is incorrect to conclude that this type of gaze prevails in most of the nudes he photographed. Above all, Weston observes the body as a formal reality. The beauty and sensuality that these bodies suggest is reflected in the play of lines, shadows and contours they offer.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Clouds, Death Valley 1939 20.4 x 25.2cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
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From the late 1920s and into the following decades, landscape became a central element in Weston’s work. The artist photographed in the desert near Palm Springs, California, as well as in New Mexico, Arizona, and other Californian areas near his home in Carmel. In these works, the horizon and the depth of the background become a structural part of his works: the panoramic shots highlight the sublime character of the landscape. It was also during this period that Weston began to be interested in meteorological phenomena such as rain, the configuration of clouds, and the aridity of the territory.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Crescent Beach, North Coast 1939 24.3 x 19.2cm Silver print mounted on board The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
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Over the years, Weston’s work increasingly acquired a “dense and melancholic” patina, an aspect that is accentuated by the tones that the images acquire. This characteristic is particularly evident in the photographs he took in 1941 to illustrate Leaves of Grass, a project for which he traveled throughout much of the United States for nearly two years. The images he captured in cemeteries in Louisiana and Georgia stand out, as well as those of abandoned, destroyed and burned buildings where the interest in formal aspects predominates and in which a critical and disillusioned commentary on reality and American society can already be seen.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Drift Stump, Crescent Beach 1937 20.3 x 25.2cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
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In the vicinity of Point Lobos, California, was the log cabin built by his son Neil on Wildcat Hill, where Weston moved in 1938. In this area of California, the artist found the wild nature that he had sought in distant places. His images from this period denote less compositional and formal rigidity and show the cycles of nature in the territory, the wild beauty, the trees, stones and rocky landscapes that seem to arise and remain in a time that is stopped. These images express a certain melancholy and solitude, while allowing the viewer to rediscover nature in all its splendour.
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Dunes, Death Valley 1938 20.4 x 25.1cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Edward Weston Archive
Catalogue
The catalogue accompanying this exhibition reproduces all the photographs on display. In addition, it includes essays by Sérgio Mah, its curator, by Rebecca Senf, who discusses the artist’s relationship with Mexico, and by Jason Weems, who focuses on Weston’s landscapes and vegetable photographs. It also includes a series of reflections by the artist himself on photography taken from his diaries.
The publication of the catalogue, published in Spanish and Catalan by Fundación MAPFRE, also has a co-edition in Italian published by Dario Cimorelli Editore.
Text from Fundación MAPFRE translated from the Spanish by Google Translate
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Nude 1936 23.4 x 19.1cm Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Gift of the Estate of A.Richard Diebold, Jr.
Author of a vast and diverse body of work spanning five and a half decades, Edward Weston (1886-1958) is one of the great figures in the history of modern photography, partly because his work allows us to reflect on the distinctive qualities of photography as a technical, aesthetic and perceptual category.
His first creative experiments reveal a momentary adherence to the pictorialist tendencies of the time, but he would later stand out as one of the protagonists of a new generation of American photographers who sought to refocus the artistic axis of photography based on its exceptional capacity to represent the most diverse subjects in the world with rigor, clarity and sobriety.
With their extreme simplicity and originality, the exceptional quality of Weston’s images also lies in the way in which he was able to rethink and articulate the extraordinary realistic and objective capacity of photography with its aesthetic, poetic and phenomenological potential, contributing to expanding the horizon of the subjective experience of the image. In this way, Weston enunciated the unique role of photography in the panorama of the visual arts of his time.
Weston was an immensely prolific photographer and his work brings together a whole series of photographic themes, types and genres: portraits, nudes, still lifes, natural and urban landscapes, object photography, architecture… This anthological exhibition aims to cover the entirety of Weston’s photographic career, which began at the beginning of the 20th century and was uninterrupted until the end of the 1940s. The selection of works aims to go well beyond the period in which Weston took most of the images that gave him wide critical and institutional recognition. The truth is that a more complete and heterogeneous approach to his work allows us to summon other layers of aesthetic appreciation, broadening the understanding of the depth and articulations that Weston developed in the various fields he explored. Furthermore, it offers the opportunity to point out the aspects and affinities (in the gaze, in the construction of the image or in its peculiar relationship with certain themes) present throughout his career, emphasizing the coherence of his imagery, as well as the nuances and moments of transition that occurred in it.
Sérgio Mah Curator
Text from Fundación MAPFRE translated from the Spanish by Google Translate
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Dunes, Oceano 1936 24.1 x 18.9cm Silver print mounted on board The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
From an early age, Edward Weston showed an interest in developing a creative side of photography apart from his commercial work. His early experiments show the influence of painting and reveal his attention and attachment to the pictorialist atmosphere of the time. These photographs include impressionistic views, pastoral subjects with soft or slightly blurred focus, numerous staged portraits that explore expressive poses and combinations with shadows and graphic elements of the environment.
The two periods he spent in Mexico, between 1923 and 1924 and then between 1925 and 1926, were decisive in Edward Weston’s creative career. There he began to explore new themes and genres and his visual horizon expanded significantly. He covered a wide variety of subjects, types of places, figures and things, parts of things, appropriate objects, motifs taken from their original context and repositioned in another interpretative framework. At the same time, his visual style completely sheds any reminiscence of the Pictorialist phase. A photography of great technical, formal and compositional rigour was consolidated. Weston realised that he had the capacity to transform trivial things into suggestive and extraordinary. He was clear that the art of photography lies fundamentally in the moment of making the image, in the way in which the photographer contemplates the subject and makes decisions according to the variables inherent in the photographic device. For him, the process is instinctive. This way of seeing – intuitive, intense and immediate – which seeks to isolate the subject, eliminating the accessory, the unnecessary, anything that could divert or attenuate the intensity of the photographic vision, constitutes the essence of Weston’s creative talent.
From 1927, Weston began a series of still life photographs. In these images he fully reveals the principles and characteristics of his work: the desire to represent the timeless essence of a natural object and, correlatively, to emphasise the duplicative and perceptive capacities of the photographic medium.
The compositions are carefully conceived. In the space of the image, there is a calculated conformity between the dimension of the forms and the format of the image. Here it is important to reiterate the focus on detail as a defining aspect of Weston’s imagery, evident in these still lifes and also in other aspects of his work. Weston understands the vision of detail as a way of fragmenting, isolating and bringing our gaze closer to certain things, accentuating the two-dimensional character of the image, its closed and opaque nature, without depth or horizon, evident above all in still lifes with dark backgrounds, such as photographs of peppers, but also in the various images of plants, trees, rocks and stones that he has been making since the early 1930s.
Weston left Mexico in 1926. In the following years, he made several series of nudes. This is not a new subject. He had already made some important ones before, including one of Anita Brenner’s back and another of her son Neil, whose torso is cut out in an image that evokes ancient Greek statues. In the nudes, the photographer’s gaze varies depending on the model. In some cases, the framing is wide and even shows the face, while in others the gaze is more segmented and focuses on parts of the body as a way of cutting out and accentuating the shapes within the frame. We can recognise that eroticism is a quality present in some of these photographs. It is incorrect, however, to conclude that this gaze prevails in most of his nudes. Weston observes the body mainly as a formal reality. The beauty and sensuality that these bodies suggest are based above all on the play of lines, shadows and contours that they provide.
From the late 1920s, and with greater intensity in the following decades, the landscape genre occupies a central place in Weston’s photographic production. In 1927, the artist takes photos in the Californian desert near Palm Springs. In the following years, he travels through New Mexico, Arizona and other areas of California, such as Oceano, Death Valley, Yosemite, the Mojave Desert and Point Lobos, near his home in Carmel. In these various places, he captures wide views of inhospitable territories in which there are no signs of human presence or intervention. The horizon line and the breadth of the territory become structuring motifs in his work. The impetus for these images is a feeling of admiration for the epic and immeasurable nature of these natural landscapes. Beyond his choice of panoramic shots, the images reveal other aspects and elements of nature, such as meteorological phenomena, rain, cloud formations and variations in sunlight, often in conjunction with their visual effect on the arid land or the vegetation and unique morphology of these territories. It is a vision sensitive to the transformative nature of the landscape, subject to environmental and geological changes.
Gradually, and with greater intensity from the 1940s onwards, Edward Weston’s imagery became denser and more melancholic, not only in terms of the selection of subjects, but also in the tonalities of the images. This tendency is particularly evident in the photographs he takes for an edition of Leaves of Grass, the masterpiece of the poet Walt Whitman. He travels throughout the United States for two years. He revisits many of the recurring themes in his work, but the large number of images he takes of cemeteries in Louisiana and Georgia stand out. These are photographs in which his interest in formal aspects, texture and light predominates. All the subjects are seen as an integral part of a geography that is at once physical, social and mental. On the other hand, there are a lot of images of abandoned, destroyed and burnt buildings, of rubbish and things destined to disappear. We can identify that the themes of finitude and death contribute to an imagery increasingly characterised by loneliness, melancholy, and decadence. For the first time in his work, the images suggest a disillusioned and critical commentary on American reality, on the relationship between nature and culture, continuity and change, alienation and social tension.
In 1938, Weston moved with Charis Wilson to the wooden house built by his son Neil on Wildcat Hill, near Point Lobos, California. The artist spent long periods taking photos in this coastal region. He wandered through areas that he knew well. The images show a nature permeated with cycles, rhythms and forces, a macrocosm where Weston found the material to continue his work. At Point Lobos, Weston encountered a wild, dazzling and ineffable beauty that he had always sought in distant places. In the trees, forests, stones and rocky landscapes, the photographer found a vital energy that led perception towards a diffuse time, contrary to the linearity of history, alien to modernity. Nature then emerged as a theme and setting that allowed him to think and experience a renewed gaze (spontaneous, intuitive, aesthetic), a gaze that was both concrete and metaphysical that allowed him to rediscover nature.
Text from Fundación MAPFRE translated from the Spanish by Google Translate
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Charis, Lake Ediza 1937 19.1 x 24.1cm Silver print mounted on board The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
KBr Fundación MAPFRE Av. del Litoral, 30 08005 Barcelona Phone: +34 932 723 180
Unknown photographer (Australian) Hawaii 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
State of grace
I was very excited by the discovery in a country town in Victoria, Australia of 73 medium format Kodak Ektakchrome slides taken in Australia, Mexico, United States of America and Canada in the mid-1960s. I believe that the photographer was an Australian who was on holiday in Mexico, United States of America and Canada.
In nearly 40 years of being a photographer I have never seen colour medium format slides from the 1960s. There was no colour fading to the slides. The person who took the photographs was shooting medium format colour in the 1960s so they would have been a photographic aficionado. Just by holding the slides up to the light I could see the photographs were compositionally very interesting. Whoever the photographer was they had a great eye!
I can date the slides to late 1966 / early 1967. This is because of the unknown photograph of the construction of John F. Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery (below). Construction began in 1965 and was completed on July 20, 1967. Since JFK’s grave is 2/3rds complete this would date the photograph to late 1966 / early 1967. This would also help date all the other Ektachrome slides that I have scanned as well.
The has been a journey of (self) discovery.
Firstly, I made the conscious decision not to look at the slides before scanning them but rather to randomly pick up whichever slide came next … then to take us on a journey in time and space from my studio in Melbourne – to Canada, Mexico, United States of America and different parts of Australia, in the mid-1960s.
Together, through these photographs, we can travel the planet, traversing time back to the 1960s where we can witness historic places of that era – John F. Kennedy’s grave under construction; George Washington’s house in Mount Vernon; the White House closer than you can ever get today in our paranoid era of protection.
In some ways it was a more open society in those days, more trusting and available; in others, it was more prejudiced against, for example, women, migrants, colour and difference. War never changes. Not everything changes for the better, but some things do.
Scanning these slides was a journey of self discovery. I immersed myself in their worlds… staring for hours at the scans and at the dots and scratches on the screen – cleaning up the slides and colour balancing them (see Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City 1960s below for an example) to make them presentable. It was as much a meditative practice and an acceptance of self to keep going that was so rewarding, especially for the peace it brings my bipolar and depression. Peace and self acceptance.
I lived and breathed these images back into existence after nobody had seen them for so many years. I saved them for prosperity, from the eternity of loss of all unseen images – to not have eyes look at them for that moment of recognition, when the language of the image can be decoded and understood. When the feeling of that image impacts the senses.
I hope you enjoy this series of images, that it reaches you in all its wonderful, effervescent glory. Whoever the photographer was I want to thank them for their vision – for they have taken us to places and times we could never have gone.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
PS. Look at the two hands in the photograph Untitled (Mexican scene?) 1960s (below). It perfectly sums up a moment caught through the energy of the photographer, the camera … and the cosmos. The open hand, the shielded hand.
Just a bit about these scans: scanned at 1200dpi, 21.3Mb. Each image takes on average 1.5 hours of cleaning and balancing to achieve the end result. 300dpi jpg made from scans.
“A good image is created by a state of grace. Grace expresses itself when it has been freed from conventions, free like a child in his early discovery of reality. The game is then to organise the rectangle.” [or the square in this case!]
Sergio Larraín Echeñique
Ektachrome transparency box
United States of America
Unknown photographer (Australian) Grand Canyon 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Snow in the Grand Canyon 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian?) Grand Canyon with snow 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) John looking bored, Father and Sylvia at Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen, Disneyland 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Wedding day (USA?) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
What a wonderful composition from a low vantage point. Not sure where it is but it feels USA to me…
The girl at left looking at the bride and groom, his white gloves one on one off, her yellow bride’s bouquet and the relationship to the yellow of the bridesmaid’s dress, and the two girls at right… one looking at the couple and one at the camera. Magic!
I wonder what happened to them, how long they were together. Was it a happy marriage? Did they had children and where are they now? And now all these years later to see this mnemonic device, this photograph of associations, designed to recover fragmentary memories of a happy time…
Unknown photographer (Australian) Wedding day (USA?) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (USA) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I am pretty sure this image is connected to the wedding photos above.
Unknown photographer (American) Hawaii? California? coastline 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Definitely not Australia…
Unknown photographer (American) Hawaii? California? coastline 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled [coastline] 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I think this is the Hawaiian or Californian coastline, but unsure… the telephone pole is definitely not Australian!
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
No idea where this is (not Australia!) or what the structures are. Obviously shot out of a moving car or possibly train/bus. An interesting image nonetheless.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled [Desert scene, California?] 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled [Desert scene, California?] 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
A wonderful photograph shot contre-jour which is a photographic technique in which the camera is pointing directly toward a source of light.
Unknown photographer (Australian) George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Thank you to Colin Vickery who informed me this is George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon.
Unknown photographer (Australian) John F. Kennedy’s gravesite under construction at Arlington Cemetery (foreground) with Memorial Bridge and the Lincoln Memorial in the background. View from Arlington House Late 1966 / early 1967 Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
An important photograph! An unknown photograph of the construction of John F. Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery.
Construction began in 1965 and was completed on July 20, 1967. Since JFK’s grave is 2/3rds complete this would date the photograph to late 1966 / early 1967. This would also help date all the other Ektachrome slides that I am scanning.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Grave of John F. Kennedy, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Another important photograph of the temporary grave of John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery with the construction of Kennedy’s new grave ongoing in the background.
Around the grave are the caps of the services with what I think are dog leads in between? In the background in the centre is a wreath from a Boy Scout Troop. And of course, the flame…
Unknown photographer (Australian) Arlington National Cemetery, Washington 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
This was a poor exposure and about the best I could do with the scan.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Arlington National Cemetery, Washington 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Road to Arlington National Cemetery, Washington 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
A wonderful vista with Arlington National Cemetery in the distance…
Unknown photographer (Australian) The White House, Washington, DC 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) The White House, Washington, DC 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled States Capitol, Washington, D.C. 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
What a great image, shot out of the front of a bus driving towards the United States Capitol, love all the old cars!
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled States Capitol, Washington, D.C. 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I love the perspective, the shadows of the old cars, the path leading the eye towards the building and the trees framing the vista.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
The top image has not been colour corrected, as scanned.
Unknown photographer (Australian) 1040 Fifth Avenue NY 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Some photos are winners, some are losers… but they are all interesting. The fifteenth floor of 1040 Fifth Avenue NY was home to Jackie Onassis from 1964 to 1994.
The cars are a Super 88 Oldsmobile, 1965 Plymouth Fury Suburban S/W and 1964/65 Buick Special 4dr.
This slide was so underexposed it was very hard to get a usable scan. Colour correction was difficult.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (American landscape) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
A lovely image. Whoever took these photographs had a really good eye.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (American landscape) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (American landscape) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (American landscape) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (California) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I think this is California?
A classic 1960s photograph. The photographer had a good eye. Los Castillo artesanos on the left hand side, a Kodak sign, and a Chevrolet if I’m not mistaken.
Unknown photographer (Australian) American landscape with cars, perhaps Malibu, California? 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Great photo!
Unknown photographer (Australian) Main Str Cinema, Disneyland, California 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I don’t know what the fault is at top left, it’s in the transparency itself – so obviously something inside the camera got ‘recorded’ on film
Unknown photographer (Australian) Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, California 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) General view over Universal Studios including my plane, Tammy’s houseboat, Warner Brothers in background, California 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
The photograph was taken from a “Glamor Tram” travelling around the lot. These were introduced in July, 1964. “The iconic red and white Glamor Trams, with their ruffled awnings, were staged five times a day, each lasting just over two hours, Monday through Friday.”
The handwritten inscription on the slide reads:
“General view over Universal Studios including my plane, Tammy’s houseboat, Warner Brothers in background”
“My plane” seems to be a North American P-51 Mustang. According to John Lovaas on Facebook he is “pretty sure the green space is Lakeside Golf Club, and the plane and cars in the foreground are on Universal Studios property. How many P-51s has Universal ever had on their lot? A finite number!”
He states that the P-51 is most likely the plane 44-72739 N44727 “Man O War” which was the plane at Universal Studios between 1955-1970. I can’t see a houseboat at all!
Unknown photographer (Australian) ‘Battle Hymn’ North American P-51 Mustang 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
A closer look at the North American P-51 Mustang that featured at a distance in the slide above.
The text written on the slide reads: “Me and plane used in “Battle Hymn”.”
“‘Battle Hymn’ is a 1957 American war film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson as Lieutenant Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real-life United States Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War who helped evacuate several hundred war orphans to safety… Hess promises her he won’t see combat, since he will be the senior USAF advisor / Instructor Pilot to the Republic of Korea Air Force, only serving as a teacher and flying F-51D Mustangs. …
In order to replicate the ROK unit, the 12 F-51D Mustangs of 182nd Fighter Squadron, 149th Fighter Group of the Texas Air National Guard were enlisted by the USAF to provide the necessary authentic aircraft of the period. During filming, an additional surplus F-51 was acquired from USAF stocks to be used in an accident scene where it would be deliberately destroyed.”
Unknown photographer (Australian) Sylvia and ship used for McHale’s Navy, Universal Studios 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
The title was written on the slide.
Unknown photographer (Australian) San Francisco with Golden Gate Bridge (in the background) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) View over San Francisco 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (Car and river, USA) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Lovely photo, great shadows. I have no idea where this is…
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (woman and car) USA, 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Left hand drive car so this must be the United States of America.
Canada
Unknown photographer (Australian) Place Ville Marie, Montreal 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Cathédrale Basilique Marie Reine du Monde, Montreal 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Cathédrale Basilique Marie Reine du Monde, Montreal 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Interior, Cathédrale Basilique Marie Reine du Monde, Montreal 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Downtown Montreal, intersection of Blvd de Maisonneuve Ouest and Metcalfe St, looking toward Mont Royal 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Mexico
Unknown photographer (Australian) Cuernavaca Cathedral, Morelos, Mexico 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
This is Chapultepec Castle, site of the National History Museum, México City. The soldiers are wearing Mexican helmets of the M1 pattern with regimental insignia on the front.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (Mexico) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (Mexico) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Unknown photographer (Australian) Hotel Borda, Cuernavaca 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
A view of the “Hotel Borda” which still exists in Cuernavaca a town just south of Mexico City.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (Mexico) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
I can make out the words “Gloria”, “Dios”, and “Paz” in the sign on the right hand side.
Unknown photographer (Australian) Untitled (Mexican scene?) 1960s Ektachrome medium format transparency scanned
Edgar Finlay (Australian, 1893-1974) Untitled Streetscape 1919 Oil on board 32.2 x 27.2cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
This is a near perfect exhibition of Australian Tonalist paintings from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne.
From the beautiful colour of the gallery walls which compliments the art work to the subtle grouping of the paintings to the individual nuances in style of each artist’s work … this is a stunning exhibition which envelops the viewer in the paintings sublime, minimalist intimacies.
From portrait to landscape, from cityscape to still life, I was enraptured by the presence of each painting. Blow Monet or Cezanne, here is Australian colour, context, identity, place, perspective at its suffused finest!
I have always adored the work of Clarice Beckett (Australian, 1887-1935) ever since I saw her paintings at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art way back in 2015, and normally she would be the start of the show … but not here. Here she is surrounded by visions / visionaries of equal stature, led by the redoubtable painter and teacher Max Meldrum (Australian, 1875-1955).
The wall of five of his paintings of trees (see installation photo below) including The Glade, Eltham (c. 1920, below), The Pool (1923, below), The Bottom of the Hill (Eltham Reserve) (1925, below) is one of the most rigorous conceptual investigations into that subject I have seen in Australian painting, yet at the same time I was emotionally moved by their subtle nuances of form, tone and inhabitation. It was as though the artist had internalised the transcendence of his subject.
Believe me when I say that I inhaled the canvases in this exhibition, I breathed their suffused glow.
It was a real privilege to see the exhibition and to be able to construct this post. There are not many reproductions of Australian Tonalist paintings online by many of these artists so here is a record their achievement, and that of John and Peter Perry for having the foresight and perspicacity to collect them.
Enveloped in a pall of opaque density I see clearly.
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing at left, George Coates’ portrait of Max Meldrum, c. 1895 (below); at centre, Edgar Finlay’s Untitled Streetscape 1919 (above); and at right, three paintings by Clarice Beckett (below) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Australian Tonalism
Australian Tonalism is characterised by a particular “misty” or atmospheric quality created by the Meldrum painting method of building “tone on tone”. Tonalism developed from Meldrum’s “Scientific theory of Impressions”; claiming that social decadence had given artists an exaggerated interest in colour and, to their detriment, were paying less attention to tone and proportion. Art, he said, should be a pure science based on optical analysis; its sole purpose being to place on the canvas the first ordered tonal impressions that the eye received. All adornments and narrative and literary references should be rejected.
Tonalism opposed Post-Impressionism and Modernism, and is now regarded as a precursor to Minimalism and Conceptualism. The whole movement had been under fierce controversy and they were without doubt the most unpopular group of artists, in the eyes of most other artists, in the history of Australian art. Influential Melbourne artist and teacher George Bell described Australian Tonalism as a “cult which muffles everything in a pall of opaque density”.
George Coates (Australian, 1869-1930) Max Meldrum c. 1895 Oil on canvas 49.7 x 39.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Clarice Beckett (Australian, 1887-1935) The Solitary Bathing Box c. 1933 Oil on beaver board 22.7 x 30cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Clarice Beckett (Australian, 1887-1935) Street Scene (Collins Street) c. 1931 Oil on canvas board 17.6 x 24cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Clarice Beckett (Australian, 1887-1935) (Beaumaris Coast) c. 1927 Oil on academy board 17.7 x 23.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Wall text from the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of Carl Hampel Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carl Hampel (Australian, 1891-1940) At Eltham 1920 Oil on prepared board 30.5 x 23cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carl Hampel (Australian, 1891-1940) Coming Light c. 1924 Evening 1920 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing at left in the bottom image the work of A E Newbury Photos: Marcus Bunyan
A E Newbury (Australian, 1891-1941) White Gum and Pines 1919 Morning Light 1919 The Old Garden 1919 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A E Newbury (Australian, 1891-1941) The Old Garden 1919 Oil on prepared board 30.5 x 23cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of William Frater
William Frater (Scottish, 1890-1974) Untitled Landscape c. 1920 Oil on canvas 30 x 41.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
William Frater (Scottish, 1890-1974) Olympus c. 1928 Oil on canvas on board 32 x 46cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
William Frater (Scottish, 1890-1974) Tree forms on the Yarra c. 1926 Oil on canvas on board 30.5 x 39cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
William Frater (Scottish, 1890-1974) The River (Homage to Cezanne) 1930 Oil on board 43 x 54.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Discover the artistic legacy of Max Meldrum (1875-1955) in this exhibition showcasing the lifelong dedication of John and Peter Perry to collecting works by this pioneering Australian artist and his influential school. Meldrum, a key figure in 20th-century Australian art, revolutionised the painting scene between the two World Wars, creating a distinctive style that has left a lasting imprint on the nation’s artistic landscape.
The exhibition features a selection of works from a collection of over 320 pieces, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and etchings. Highlights include landscapes from both France and Australia, still lifes, portraits and animal studies – all embodying the unique approach of Meldrum and his followers. The ‘Meldrumites’ – a talented group of artists such as A M E Bale, Clarice Beckett, Colin Colahan and Polly Hurry – were deeply influenced by Meldrum’s teachings, and their works are also prominently featured. Many of these artists either lived or worked in the area now known as the City of Boroondara.
Also on display are fascinating studio artifacts, including plaster casts, palettes and photographs, offering a deeper insight into the artists’ creative processes. The exhibition will be accompanied by a limited-edition publication, providing further context and reflection on this significant collection.
Featuring: A M E Bale, Clarice Beckett, Colin Colahan, Archie and Amalie Colquhoun, Polly Hurry, John Farmer, Alma Figuerola, Justus Jorgensen, William Frater, Carl Hampel, Percy Leason, Max Meldrum, Jim Minogue, A E Newbury, Arnold Shore and others.
Text from the Boroondara Arts website
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A D Colquhoun (Australian, 1894-1983) Self Portrait c. 1922 Oil on oak panel 21 x 15.8cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
L August Cornehls (Australian, 1887-1962) Self Portrait c. 1924 Oil on canvas on cardboard 26.7 x 22cm (oval) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Alma Figuerola (Australian, 1902-1970) Self Portrait c. 1926 Oil on cardboard 19.5 x 15cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
John Farmer (Australian, 1897-1989) Self portrait c. 1926 Oil on canvas 20.5 x 15.3cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Australian Tonalism wall text Meldrum’s Painting Theory Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of Max Meldrum Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) Brume (Mist) c. 1907 Study, Le Clocher c. 1908 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) Lever de Soleil (Sunrise) 1910 Oil on canvas 35 x 26.8cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) Chene et Peupliers (Oak Tree and Poplars) c. 1907 Oil on canvas 33.5 x 32cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) Esquisse (Sketch) c. 1904 Haystacks, Brittany c. 1908 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Australian Tonalism wall text Meldrum in France Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) Pont de Grenelle, Paris 1929 Oil on canvas sketching panel 33.3 x 40.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of Max Meldrum Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) The Glade, Eltham c. 1920 Oil on canvas on board 44 x 42cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) The Pool 1923 Oil on canvas on board 34 x 37.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Meldrum (Scottish, 1875-1955) The Bottom of the Hill (Eltham Reserve) 1925 Oil on canvas on board 32.5 x 42cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992) Photograph of Max Meldrum 1937 Gelatin silver photograph 47.5 x 33.7cm (image) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition ‘Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection’ at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of Colin Colahan Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) Bridge Road, Evening c. 1929 Oil on linen on board 33 x 40.8cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) Untitled (Streetscape) 1919 Oil on cardboard 32.2 x 23cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) Kings Road, Chelsea 1940 Oil on board 46 x 38cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) The Green Fence 1930 Oil on canvas on board 45.3 x 38cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) Swanston Street, Melbourne c. 1930 Oil on canvas on board 45 x 37.7cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Colin Colahan (Australian, 1897-1987) Swanston Street, Melbourne (detail) c. 1930 Oil on canvas on board 45 x 37.7cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Tone, Proportion and Colour: A Brief Overview of the Exhibition
John R. Perry, March 2025
In 1974 Peter and I purchased a small sketch of a Brittany sunset by Max Meldrum. We have continued collecting works by Meldrum and painters associated with him for over forty-five years. Our aim has been to develop a representative, well composed collection of quality work by Australian Tonalists. The emphasis has been on Meldrum’s earlier works and those of his early associates. His work was at its most sensitive and his influence greatest in this period.
We have in this exhibition some of Meldrum’s rare early French landscapes including several by his brother-in-law Charles Nitsch. There are also works which I believe to be the first truly modern Australian paintings, produced at Eltham in 1917. Meldrum developed a simplified approach to his art and two works, The Three Trees (1917) and Cloudy Summer Afternoon, Eltham (1917) illustrate this progress. They give a true sense of space and atmosphere, all the more striking when seen with what a direct and simple means these effects are obtained. These compact and luminous studies show us the first evidence of the painter putting his perceptual theory into practice.
William Frater and Arnold Shore were major figures in the development of the modern movement in Melbourne and are included in this exhibition to illustrate the influence Meldrum had on these two under-appreciated painters…
The works of Clarice Beckett and Polly Hurry are generally one of soft-focus, for these lovers of mist and crepuscular fogs pay homage to the painters Eugene Carriere and James McNeill Whistler. The works of John Farmer, A E Newbury and to some degree Richard McCann, evolved into their respective personal styles which owe more to Camille Corot than to Meldrum. Their landscapes of subtle delicacy and feathery texture elicit many comparisons with the work of the great French Barbizon School painters…
Having both decided early on our collecting paths, that conventional collecting was not for us, we decided to be more objective, learning to appreciated and admire the work of the Australian Tonalists. As our collection grew, we were willing to leave the beat track, avoiding art dealers, art writers and critics, committing ourself to dealing directly with those painters associated with the Tonalist movement.
Like John Constable, Meldrum believed that, “… in such an age as this, painting should be understood, not looked on with blind wonder, nor considered only as a poetic aspiration, but as a pursuit legitimate, scientific and mechanical.”2
John Constable, quoted in The Letters of John Constable, ed. by R.B. Beckett (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1955), p. 530.
Alice Marian Ellen Bale (Australian, 1875-1955) Self portrait 1925 Oil on canvas 75 x 62.5cm Town hall Gallery Collection Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Australian Tonalism Alice Bale self portrait wall text Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition Australian Tonalism: A selection from the John and Peter Perry Collection at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Melbourne, May – July, 2025 showing the work of A M E Bale Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A M E Bale (Australian, 1876-1955) Interior (83 Walpole Street, Kew) c. 1928 Oil on board 31 x 23.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A M E Bale (Australian, 1876-1955) Pompon Dahlias c. 1936 Oil on canvas 56 x 46cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A M E Bale (Australian, 1876-1955) In Castlemaine Gardens (The Wall of Poplars) 1922 Oil on canvas 28.5 x 23cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Richard McCann (Australian, 1889-1970) The Cottage 1919 Eltham c. 1920 Heyington from Hawthorn 1927 Pont Neuf & Henri IV, Paris 1924 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Richard McCann (Australian, 1889-1970) Eltham c. 1920 Oil on academy board 24.5 x 39.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Richard McCann (Australian, 1889-1970) Heyington from Hawthorn 1927 Oil on cedar panel 24 x 35cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Richard McCann (Australian, 1889-1970) The Cottage 1919 Oil on academy board 24 x 30.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Justus Jorgensen (Australian, 1893-1975) On the way to Toulon, Cassis 1927 Oil on canvas on flyboard 32.5 x 40.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Justus Jorgensen (Australian, 1893-1975) Cassis 1927 Oil on canvas on board 40.5 x 33cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
John Rowell (Australian, 1894-1973) The Roadway c. 1920 Oil on canvas on flyboard 21.7 x 21.5cm
William Rowell (Australian, 1898-1946) The Barn 1926 Oil on academy board 28.5 x 30.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Charles Nitsch (French, 1882-1972) Picherit’s Farm, Pace, Brittany c. 1910 Oil on cotton on board 32.5 x 40cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Australian Tonalism wall text Charles Nitsch Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A D Colquhoun (Australian, 1894-1983) The Avenue de l’Observatoire 1925 The Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens c. 1925 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A D Colquhoun (Australian, 1894-1983) The Avenue de l’Observatoire 1925 Oil on wood panel 16 x 21.6cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
A D Colquhoun (Australian, 1894-1983) The Fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens c. 1925 Oil on board 15.8 x 21.5cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
John Farmer (Australian, 1897-1989) Misty Morning, London (detail) 1934 Oil on canvas on board 19 x 24cm Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Town Hall Gallery 360 Burwood Road Hawthorn VIC 3122 Phone: (03) 9278 4770
“Typology remains a highly challenging and complex notion. It operates in a paradoxical regime: on the one hand, this approach can lead to a systematic recording of people and objects based on extreme objectivity; on the other hand, typology corresponds to an individual and arbitrary choice, revealing itself as a disturbing and potentially subversive act.” (Press release)
Every photo within a Becher grid contains its own difference.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to the Fondazione Prada for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Let’s not beat around the bush. Despite protestations to the contrary (appeals to the objectivity of the image, eschewing entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion and opinion; the rigorous frontality of the individual images giving them the simplicity of diagrams, while their density of detail offers encyclopaedic richness) these are subjective images for all their objective desire. The paradox is the more a photographer strives for objectivity, the more ego drops away, the more the work becomes their own: subjective, beautiful, emotive.
“What happens in the case of mutation? Consider the example of the genetic code. Mutation normally occurs when some random event (for example, a burst of radiation or a coding error) disrupts an existing pattern and something else is put in its place instead. Although mutation disrupts pattern, it also presupposes a morphological standard against which it can be measured and understood as mutation. We have seen that in electronic textuality, the possibility for mutation within the text are enhanced and heightened by long coding chains. We can now understand mutation in more fundamental terms. Mutation is critical because it names the bifurcation point at which the interplay between pattern and randomness causes the system to evolve in a new direction. It reveals the productive potential of randomness that is also recognized within information theory when uncertainty is seen as both antagonistic and intrinsic to information.
We are now in a position to understand mutation as a decisive event in the psycholinguistics of information. Mutation is the catastrophe in the pattern / randomness dialectic analogous to castration in the presence / absence dialectic. It marks a rupture of pattern so extreme that the expectation of continuous replication can in longer be sustained. But as with castration, this only appears to be a disruption located at a specific moment. The randomness to which mutation testifies is implicit in the very idea of pattern, for only against the background of nonpattern can pattern emerge. Randomness is the contrasting term that allows pattern to be understood as such.”
Hayles, Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999, pp. 30-33
In the series Menschen Im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969 (People in the elevator, 20.11.1969) shot in 1969, Heinrich Riebesehl conceptualised his interest in the photographic portrait. The portraits of the workers of the Hannoversche Presse (a daily newspaper in Hanover) – taken inside an elevator with a remotely operated small-format camera – are dated and numbered in sequential order: Riebesehl dispensed with a title or a more detailed description of the subjects portrayed. By omitting distinctive elements from the images, such as the profession or age of the subjects, he made the situation the key factor in the shots. In fact, the images are studies of the behaviors of people in that particular space, their body languages and gazes. Riebesehl knew that environment very well, because he had worked for a long time as a photojournalist, before turning to conceptual art photography.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing at left Bernd and Hiller Becher’s Hochöfen (Blast furnaces) 1970-1989; and at right, Candida Höfer’s Bibliotheque Nationale de France XXIII 1997
In the photographs of libraries in London, Paris, and New York, which at first glance appear to be technically scientific records, Candida Höfer manages to capture something that is not visible: ingenuity. The libraries’ rooms have high ceilings, and the rows of seats are neatly arranged. In their impressiveness, they reflect the architecture of the 19th-century conception of knowledge and science, typical of the dominant nations of the time because of their commercial and colonial power. The objective nature of the deserted spaces, precisely in how they seem to be neutral to the individual needs of the students, suggests something in the image that could hardly be less objective: the possibility for intellectual exchange that these spaces promise and deliver in Höfer’s photographs.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
In Candida Höfer’s photographs shot in zoos, the animals document a specific form of loneliness in modern times. In these images, the lines of development of two disciplines collide. Not only in the photographs, but also in reality, they function independently of each other: modern architecture and behavioural research. Modern architecture has become established in zoological gardens but has never considered the animal and its needs. Based on the knowledge gained from behavioural research, by choosing to portray iconic large mammals such as giraffes, lions, and polar bears, Höfer has represented the dilemma of a world in which entire species are threatened with extinction and in which zoos see themselves as a kind of ‘Noah’s Ark.’
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing Bernd and Hilla Becher’s Wassertürme (Water towers) 1966-1986
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Thomas Struth
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Thomas Struth with at left, Musée du Louvre IV Paris, 1989
In his practice, Thomas Struth demonstrates meticulous attention to the architectural environment, as well as to people and objects. In his large-format colour series Museum Photographs (1989-1992), Struth captures anonymous individuals and crowds gazing at artworks in museums. A significant example is Louvre 4, Paris 1989, in which the artist photographs from behind a group of viewers standing in front of Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa (1819). Often made with a large-format camera, his images reflect what Struth calls “exact vision”: the framing must not conceal anything or suggest secret content, thus resulting in an enigmatic outcome.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing Andreas Gursky’s Paris, Montparnasse 1993
Andreas Gursky’s large-format work, Paris, Montparnasse (1993) has become an iconic example of his work. It depicts the Maine-Montparnasse II block of flats, located on Rue Commandant-Mouchotte in Paris and built between 1959 and 1964 on a design by French architect Jean Dubuisson. This is one of the first images that Gursky created using digital post-production. In real life, the building does not look the way it appears in the image: using a digital editing process, Gursky transformed the façade into a game of differences and repetitions by processing the windows. In fact, by reiterating forms that are always identical, he produced a seemingly infinite number of them, with colour variations that are activated by a calculated dynamic.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent 1999
In 99 Cent (1999), Andreas Gursky photographed supermarket shelves using the same formal scheme used in Paris, Montparnasse (1993). The shelves crammed with everyday products such as detergents represent the inexhaustible flow of goods in the global system of production and distribution. Gursky’s work conveys a feeling of disorientation generated by the excessive stimuli and details typical of a shelf in a hypermarket.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Andreas Gursky (German, b. 1955) 99 Cent 1999 (remastered 2009) Inkjet print
“Typologien” is an extensive study dedicated to 20th-century German photography. The exhibition, hosted within Podium, the central building of the Milan headquarters, is curated by Susanne Pfeffer, art historian and director of the MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, Frankfurt.
The project attempts to apply the principle of “typology,” which originated in 17th- and 18th-century botany to categorise and study plants, and appeared in photography in the early 1900s, affirming itself in Germany throughout the 20th century. Paradoxically, the given formal principle allows for unexpected convergences of German artists spanning different generations and the manifestation of their individual approaches.
The exhibition path will follow a typological rather than a chronological order, bringing together more than 600 photographic works by 25 established and lesser-known artists essential for recounting a century of German photography, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Sibylle Bergemann, Karl Blossfeldt, Ursula Böhmer, Christian Borchert, Margit Emmrich, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Isa Genzken, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Lotte Jacobi, Jochen Lempert, Simone Nieweg, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Heinrich Riebesehl, Thomas Ruff, August Sander, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), and Marianne Wex. A system of suspended walls will create geometric partitions in the exhibition space, forming unexpected connections between artistic practices that differ from each other, but are united by a common principle or intention of classification.
As stated by Susanne Pfeffer, “Only through juxtaposition and direct comparison is it possible to find out what is individual and what is universal, what is normative or real. Differences are evidence of the abundance of nature and the imagination of humans: the fern, the cow, the human being, the ear; the bus stop, the water tower, the stereo system, the museum. The typological comparison allows differences and similarities to emerge and the specifics to be grasped. Unknown or previously unperceived things about nature, the animal, or the object, about place and time become visible and recognisable.”
In photography, employing typologies means affirming an equivalence between images and the absence of hierarchies in terms of represented subjects, motifs, genres, and sources. Despite this, typology remains a highly challenging and complex notion. It operates in a paradoxical regime: on the one hand, this approach can lead to a systematic recording of people and objects based on extreme objectivity; on the other hand, typology corresponds to an individual and arbitrary choice, revealing itself as a disturbing and potentially subversive act.
The hypothesis that photography plays a key role not only in fixing distinctive phenomena but also in organising and classifying a plurality of visible manifestations remains a vital force in today’s artistic efforts to navigate the complexity of our social and cultural realities. With the spread of digital imagery and practices, the concept of typology continues to be questioned and re-defined by contemporary photographers and artists.
As underlined by Susanne Pfeffer, “The unique, the individual, seems to have been absorbed into a global mass, the universality of things is omnipresent. The Internet allows typologies to be created in a matter of seconds. And yet this is precisely when it seems important – to artists – to take a closer look.” As further explained by Pfeffer, “When the present seems to have abandoned the future, we need to observe the past more closely. When everything seems to be shouting at you and becoming increasingly brutal, it is important to take a quiet pause and use the silence to see and think clearly. When differences are not seen as something other, but turned into something that divides us, it is crucial to notice what we have in common. Typologies allow us to identify remarkable similarities and subtle differences.”
Text from the Fondazione Prada website
Typologien | Fondazione Prada Milano
An extensive study dedicated to 20th-century German photography. “Typologien” attempts to apply the principle of “typology,” which originated in 17th- and 18th-century botany to categorise and study plants, and appeared in photography in the early 1900s, affirming itself in Germany throughout the 20th century.
The exhibition, hosted within Podium, the central building of the Milan headquarters, is curated by Susanne Pfeffer, art historian and director of the MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, Frankfurt.
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Ursula Schulz-Dornburg
Ursula Schulz-Dornburg was visiting convents and monasteries in Armenia when she happened to come across one of these unique bus stops, partly futuristic and partly surreal. From 1997 to 2011, she portrayed numerous bus stops, often in very remote locations. In a country that was experiencing a dramatic transition, from being part of the Soviet Union to its new status as an independent republic, these bus stops look like the remnants of a utopian socialism, which in Schulz-Dornburg’s images are kept alive mainly by women and children. The photographer said she was so impressed by the dignity of those women waiting at the bus stop, who even in the most extreme poverty looked as though they were on their way to the Opera, that she asked their permission to photograph them. What emerged was a document of a quiet life that manages with dignity to deal with even the harshest adversity.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition ‘Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany’ at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing at left, flower photographs by Thomas Struth; and at right, Andreas Gursky’s Untitled XVIII 2015 (below)
Andreas Gursky (German, b. 1955) Untitled XVIII 2015 Inkjet print Atelier Andreas Gursky
Unlike works such as Paris, Montparnasse (1993), in the Untitled series he produced between 2015 and 2016, Andreas Gursky depicted rows of tulips without providing a title or location for the pictures. Viewed from a distance, the photographs are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionist paintings, but even looking at them at close range, the lushly blooming flowers are undiscernible. Living in Düsseldorf, close to the Dutch border, Gursky is familiar with the intensively cultivated Dutch tulip crops, where no unwanted insect or worm would possibly be allowed to spoil the bulbs. The sterility of industrial flower production, far from being harmless and healthy, is captured by Gursky in images that, in turn, are neither reassuring nor pleasant.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the flower photographs of Thomas Struth with at left, Small Closed Sunflower, No. 18, Winterthur 1992 (below); and at third left, Single Red Lily – No. 51, Düsseldorf (Botanischer Garten) 1993 (below)
A student of the artist Gerhard Richter and later of the photographer Bernd Becher at the Art Düsseldorf Academy from 1973 to 1980, Thomas Struth habitually works in thematic cycles centered around museums, flowers, and portraits of families and passers-by. The “exact vision” – the intention underpinning Struth’s photography – can be seen in both the portraits of two cornflowers shoot in Düsseldorf and the image of a red lily in the city’s Botanical Garden. Struth notes down the name or address of the site where he took the photograph, as in the case of the flower of a hollyhock portrayed in Düsseldorf’s Nordpark. This is to evoke the poetry of the place and provide an exact account of the plants’ origin, preserving the authenticity of the shots without digitally altering them.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Hiller Becher
In terms of the objectivity of the approach, Hilla Becher’s 1965 photographic studies of an oak leaf, a cypress branch, and a ginkgo leaf are in keeping with the series on types of industrial buildings that she made with her husband Bernd Becher. Thematically, however, these studies represent a sort of return to the studies of branches and shoots made years earlier by Karl Blossfeldt. Unlike Blossfeldt’s images, the leaves, particularly the poplar leaves, are not uniformly lit. The shadowy areas cannot be clearly seen with the naked eye even on close and objective observation. One could say that nature has penetrated the technique, disappearing.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Karl Blossfeldt
Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865-1932) Adiantum pedatum, haarfarn, junge, noch eingerollte Wedel [Maidenhair fern, young, still curled fronds] Nd Gelatin silver print Courtesy Berlin University of Arts, Archive – Karl Blossfeldt Collection in cooperation with Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne
The young, still curling fronds of an ‘Unspecified fern’ are a kind of introduction to the themes that Karl Blossfeldt explored, and his working methods. Faced with a seemingly infinite variety of natural forms, the photographer tried to find an order by using tools borrowed from scientific botany. Blossfeldt collected plant samples tirelessly in and around Berlin, dried them, and enlarged those details not visible to the naked eye. However, the photographer was seeking something different from the aims of botanical research. This is already revealed by the title of the first volume, a publication of his photographs of plants – Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Plants, 1928). Right from the title, he explicitly refers to the model he used for the book’s conception: Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen in der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), published in 1924 and now a classic. Therefore, Blossfeldt sought archetypal formal models in nature, such as the fronds of the fern.
In his search for a primal form of nature that could then be shaped into art according to the natural model – as in the case of the curled fronds of the fern – Karl Blossfeldt applied the systematic method specific to botany with a kind of exterior mimicry. He moved from the frond of an unidentified fern, in other words, not yet classified according to an order, to a fern that could at least be identified within a botanical classification. The frond of the order Polypodiales certainly has typological similarities to all the fronds photographed by Blossfeldt, but it remains a case apart in that it cannot be classified in any of the orders in which the other ferns are classified. However, this level of identification is a relevant indication: these very diverse plants in fact number about 9000 known species, and probably many more yet to be identified. Moreover, identifying their species is often only possible for a few specialists, and is even more difficult given the variety of forms that ferns take during their development.
The curled fronds of some ferns from the Osmundaceae family, royal ferns, with their botanical classification, confirm one of the fundamental intentions of Karl Blossfeldt’s studies: only by carefully analyzing the structure of a plant can one fully understand its natural form. He developed his approach opposite to that of the Jugendstil, the artistic movement – a variation of French Art Nouveau and Italian Liberty – that stylized plant forms and conceived of them primarily as ornamental elements. Blossfeldt was not interested in criticism or rejection of the ornamental, but in a radical reconfiguration of it. This could only be achieved by thoroughly studying natural forms.
Three still-curled fronds of a specimen of bracken fern – scientific name Hypolepidaceae – on the one hand, appear denaturalised, because Karl Blossfeldt focused his lens on the detail, leaving out the natural context. But on the other hand, they reveal a scrupulous observation of the plant world. By nature, in fact, fronds develop according to a strict formal principle – no natural form is purely random – and yet they eventually differ from one another. The fronds of ferns could appear as decalcomanias, given that in Blossfeldt’s representation they take on an almost mechanical quality for the observer. The emphasis on differences in resemblance, which Blossfeldt achieved more or less consciously by repeating the leaf motif in differently shaped ferns, can be considered one of the main aesthetic innovations of his photography.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Marianne Wex with at left, Let’s Take Back Our Space: ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures 1977-2018 (below); and at right, Arm and Leg Positions, Lying on the Ground 1977/2018
With the photographic project Let’s Take Back our Space, which resulted in a book published in 1979 with the subtitle “‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures,” Marianne Wex produced one of the seminal works in 1970s feminist art studies. Starting with a scrupulous observation of the body influenced by the method of structuralism, a scientific approach that studies a whole by breaking it down into elements and units, Wex took hundreds of photographs arranged in specific thematic sections devoted, for example, to specific leg and arm positions. Wex succeeded in showing how apparently natural body postures are actually the result of centuries of social and cultural structures, not a ‘natural’ or genetic predisposition. Her photographs capture movements, postures, and gestures, documenting habits of the body that have been taught and passed down for generations, shaping the behaviour of men and women according to patriarchal expectations.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Marianne Wex (German, 1937-2020) Let’s Take Back Our Space: ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures 1977-2018 Inkjet print
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing photographs from Wolfgang Tillmans’ series Concorde 1997
In 1997, Wolfgang Tillmans photographed the Concorde, a supersonic passenger plane, in flight during landing and take-off. For him, the plane represented one of the last remaining inventions of the 1960s technological utopia. With its futuristic shape, supersonic speed, and the formidable roar it made during take-off and landing, the plane fascinated generations of technology enthusiasts. Today, the Concorde is a thing of the past and, together with the Titanic, epitomises more of a technological shock than a promise in the history of technology. These photographs reveal one of the aspects that Tillmans wants to highlight: they are symbols of “a super-modern anachronism” that ultimately left nothing behind but air pollution and environmental destruction.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Wolfgang Tillmans (German, b. 1968) Concorde L449-21 1997 Inkjet print Courtesy of Galerie Buchholz
Fondazione Prada presents Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany, an extensive study dedicated to 20-century German photography, at its Milan venue from 3 April to 14 July 2025. The exhibition, hosted within Podium, the central building of the Milan headquarters, is curated by Susanne Pfeffer, art historian and director of the MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, Frankfurt.
The exhibition attempts to apply the principle of “typology,” which originated in 17th- and 18th-century botany to categorise and study plants, and appeared in photography in the early 1900s, affirming itself in Germany throughout the 20th century. Paradoxically, the given formal principle allows for unexpected convergences of German artists spanning different generations and the manifestation of their individual approaches.
The exhibition path follows a typological rather than a chronological order, bringing together more than 600 photographic works by 25 artists essential for recounting over a century of German photography. The exhibition features photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Sibylle Bergemann, Karl Blossfeldt, Ursula Böhmer, Christian Borchert, Margit Emmrich, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Isa Genzken, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Lotte Jacobi, Jochen Lempert, Simone Nieweg, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Heinrich Riebesehl, Thomas Ruff, August Sander, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), and Marianne Wex. The project forms unexpected connections between artistic practices that differ from each other but are united by a common principle or intention of classification.
As stated by Susanne Pfeffer, “Only through juxtaposition and direct comparison is it possible to find out what is individual and what is universal, what is normative or real. Differences are evidence of the abundance of nature and the imagination of humans: the fern, the cow, the human being, the ear; the bus stop, the water tower, the stereo system, the museum. The typological comparison allows differences and similarities to emerge and the specifics to be grasped. Unknown or previously unperceived things about nature, the animal, or the object, about place and time become visible and recognizable.”
In photography, employing typologies means affirming an equivalence between images and the absence of hierarchies in terms of represented subjects, motifs, genres, and sources.
Despite this, typology remains a highly challenging and complex notion. It operates in a paradoxical regime: on the one hand, this approach can lead to a systematic recording of people and objects based on extreme objectivity; on the other hand, typology corresponds to an individual and arbitrary choice, revealing itself as a disturbing and potentially subversive act.
The hypothesis that photography plays a key role not only in fixing distinctive phenomena but also in organizing and classifying a plurality of visible manifestations remains a vital force in today’s artistic efforts to navigate the complexity of our social and cultural realities. With the spread of digital imagery and practices, the concept of typology continues to be questioned and re-defined by contemporary photographers and artists.
As underlined by Susanne Pfeffer, “The unique, the individual, seems to have been absorbed into a global mass, the universality of things is omnipresent. The Internet allows typologies to be created in a matter of seconds. In this very precise moment – it seems even more important to follow the artists’ gaze and look closely.” As further explained by Pfeffer, “When the present seems to have abandoned the future, we need to look closer at the past. When everything seems to be shouting at you and becoming increasingly brutal, it is important to take a quiet pause and use the silence to see and think clearly. When differences are no longer perceived seen as something other but are transformed into elements of division, we have to recognize what we have in common. Typologies allow us to identify undeniable similarities and subtle differences.”
In the early 20th century, Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was one of the first artists to transfer the classification system used in botanical studies to photography. His vast and detailed plant atlas represented a foundational moment for German Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This artistic and photographic movement emerged in the 1920s during the Weimar Republic and promoted the importance of categories and distinctions and the remarkable ability of photography as a medium to explore the very idea of typology.
Another pioneering figure was August Sander (1876-1964), who published his photo book Antlitz der Zeit (Face of Our Time) in 1929, at the time excerpted from his landmark project Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts (People of the 20th Century). Described by Walter Benjamin as a “training atlas” of physiognomic perception, Antlitz der Zeit was an ambitious attempt to portray the diversity and the structure of German society using class, gender, age, occupation, and social background as distinct categories of a rigid and neutral classification system.
Both Karl Blossfeldt’s and August Sander’s typologies were fundamental for Bernd Becher (1931-2007) and Hilla Becher (1934-2015) when, at the end of the fifties, they began an enormous and lifelong documentation and preservation project of industrial architecture. In 1971, they described the “industrial constructions” as “objects, not motifs”. They stated that “the information we want to provide is only created through the sequence, through the juxtaposition of similar or different objects with the same function”. Their black-and-white monuments, or “anonymous sculptures”, isolated against a monochromatic sky, centered, framed in the same format and arranged in a block, became an essential reference for American and European Post-Minimalist and Conceptual artists. They also represented a rich heritage for younger generations of German artists and photographers, such as Andreas Gursky (b. 1955), Candida Höfer (b. 1944), Simone Nieweg (b. 1962), Thomas Ruff (b. 1958) and Thomas Struth (b. 1954), who studied at the Academy in Düsseldorf in the class led by Bernd and Hilla Becher from 1976.
Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941-2023), internationally recognised for his fundamental contribution to conceptual art, traced a complementary trajectory in German photography. In his works, he documented everyday objects and historical events and combined deadpan humor with a systematic approach to accumulating, cataloguing, and rearranging elements of contemporary visual culture. In his series, he invented personal yet very political typologies and adopted a deliberate snapshot approach with a commercial aesthetic. For his work Alle Kleider einer Frau (All the Clothes of a Woman, 1975), he took 35mm-format photographs of underwear, hosiery, T-shirts, dresses, trousers, skirts, socks, and shoes, all hanging on hangers on the wall or laid on dark fabric. With his project Die Toten 1967-1993 (The Dead 1967-1993, 1996-1998), he paid homage to individuals murdered in the context of the political and terroristic movements in Post-War Germany. As pointed out by Susanne Pfeffer, “With his typologies, he emphasised the equal value of all photographs, their image sources and motifs, and underscored the de-hierarchisation inherent in every typology.”
In his apparently random collection of found, personal or pornographic images, press clippings, and historical photos of Nazi concentration camps, the Red Army Faction and German reunification, a “private album” named Atlas (1962 – present), Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) seemed to deny or challenge the very idea of typology. Instead, he took the principle of equivalence between images and their trivialization process to the limits, creating a jarring contrast and an acute awareness of a repressed collective memory.
In the seventies and eighties, in a dialectic relationship with the artistic lessons of the Bechers, Gursky, Höfer, Ruff, and Struth progressively abandoned the radicalism and black- and-white purism of their professors. They explored the colorful dominance of banality in their series of individual or family portraits, monumental and detailed city views, and spectacular documentation of cultural or tourist sites, generating a plethora of contemporary and conflicting typologies.
In the late seventies and early eighties, multimedia artist Isa Genzken (b. 1948) engaged in a direct dialogue with the photographic medium. In 1979, she created a series entitled Hi-Fi that featured advertisements of avant-garde Japanese stereo equipment, organising them in an imaginary commercial catalog. The second series entitled Ohr (Ear) (1980) depicted, in large-scale colour close-ups, the ears of random women Genzken photographed on the streets of New York City. She transferred the traditional portrait genre to physiognomic detail and ironically investigating the absolute singularity and infinite individual differentiation the photographic portrait can record.
An illustrated book, published by Fondazione Prada and designed by Zak Group, accompanies the exhibition “Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany”. It includes an introduction by Miuccia Prada, President and Director of Fondazione Prada, a text by the exhibition curator Susanne Pfeffer and three essays by renowned international art historians and curators Benjamin Buchloh, Tom Holert, and Renée Mussai.
Press release from Fondazione Prada
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of August Sander
The series that August Sander dedicated to women is perhaps where the idea of categorising an archetype or social type shows the cracks most visibly. Whether it is an architect’s companion, an industrialist’s wife, or a high society lady, in Sander’s images the individuality of the female subject, in dress and posture, always prevails over type. And even when the subjects display characteristics that could be traced back to their class, origin, or occupation – such as the secretary who smokes – all the women depicted, from the sculptor to the photographer or the gym teacher, express ‘their own’ individuality. This is most evident when comparing the portraits of women with those of civil servants, whose gazes already show a serial uniformity associated with their positions.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
In 1935, Erich Sander, August Sander’s son, was sensationally put on trial and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for subversive activities. He served most of his sentence in Siegburg Prison, where he worked as the prison’s photographer. Determined to continue his resistance activities even in prison, he did not limit himself to taking ‘official’ photographs. He convinced his fellow prisoners to show him the scars of torture and have their portraits taken. Those photographs seemed to him to be in line with his father’s work. He had learned his trade from his father and worked with him before his imprisonment. He stayed in close contact with his parents during his ten years of imprisonment, and through them, managed to get many of those images out of the prison, leaving a valuable record of Nazi atrocities. Due to a misdiagnosis and lack of medical treatment during his imprisonment, Erich Sander died in 1944, six months before the end of his sentence.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing photographs by Thomas Struth with at left, The Richter Family 1, Cologne 2002; and at right, The Consolandi Family, Milan 1996
Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954) The Richter Family 1, Cologne (installation view) 2002 C-print Courtesy of the artist
Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954) The Richter Family 1, Cologne 2002 C-print Courtesy of the artist
Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954) The Consolandi Family, Milan (installation view) 1996 C-print Courtesy of the artist
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing Thomas Ruff portraits
Between 1977 and 1985, Thomas Ruff studied with Bernd Becher at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, where he himself has been teaching photography since 2000. During the 1980s, he photographed people from his circle of acquaintances in a series of identically framed shots. With the subjects portrayed in a half-length pose against a neutral background, the images are striking for their unusually large size. Every detail, every pore, and every imperfection in the skin is visible in the faces of the subjects, whose names Ruff also provides. The strictness of the composition, the uniform lighting, and the impassive gaze of the people portrayed give the images an objective and neutral atmosphere. What formally appears detached and unemotional immediately raises questions about the subject portrayed: who is this person? What does he or she do in life? With this series, Ruff challenges the conventions of the traditional portrait, encouraging the viewer to question not only the identity of the subject, but also the role of the photographer and the meaning of the portrait itself.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing at left, Jochen Lempert’s The Skins of Alca Impennis 1992-2022; and at right, Thomas Ruff’s Portrait of Pia Stadtbäumer and Portrait of Simone Buch both 1988
Jochen Lempert (German, b. 1958) The Skins of Alca Impennis (detail) 1992-2022 Gelatin silver prints on Bartya paper 54 parts Courtesy of Jochen Lempert, BQ, Berlin, and ProjecteSD, Barcelona
The fifty-four profiles of the Alca impennis (the great auk), a large flightless bird that became extinct after its last sighting in 1852, are part of a project that took Jochen Lempert more than a decade to complete. Using the same methods, Lempert photographed the profiles of many of the seventy-eight specimens of the Alca impennis preserved in natural history collections. Having become increasingly rare due to hunting, the Alca impennis was increasingly coveted by collectors, so the skins of this species fetched very high prices. The presence of such a large number of stuffed specimens in collections was therefore one of the causes of this species’ extinction.
Lempert’s portraits also hint at a more significant phenomenon. Very marked individual variations can be found in the appearance of individual specimens of a species, testifying to the great degree of differentiation within the species. Therefore, the concept of species, or its depiction in a scientific classification book, provides something akin to an ‘ideal type,’ rather than a true representation of the actual variety found in real life.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing the work of Rosemarie Trockel, Elena I & II, 1993/2025, Maculata I & II, 1993/2025, Mela I & II, 1993/2025
The portraits of the dogs Mela, Elena, and Maculata grew out of Rosemarie Trockel’s interest in animals and the relationship between animals and humans, a subject she has been working with for a long time. From the drawings of monkeys, which represent a kind of monument to the profound melancholy of primates kept in captivity by humans, to A House for Pigs and People / Ein Haus føur Schweine und Menschen created with Carsten Höller for documenta X in 1997, Trockel’s exploration of the relationship between humans and animals involves various forms of expression and themes. However, in this case, the double portraits of the three dogs, photographed frontally and in profile, indicate a further correlation. If “every animal is an artist,” as Trockel has stated, these portraits seem to call these roles into question: who directs and who stages who? Does the artist portray the dogs or do the dogs direct the artist?
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Installation view of the exhibition Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan showing at left, the work of Ursula Böhmer and her series All Ladies – Cows in Europe, 1998-2011; and at right, the work of Isa Genzken and her series Ohr, 1980
Getting a cow to stand still in a frontal pose and look towards the camera, as Ursula Böhmer managed to do with a Highlander in the Grampian Mountains, is certainly not an easy task, but one that requires patience and trust, one of the prerequisites for this project. Between 1998 and 2011, Böhmer visited 25 European countries to photograph specimens of cattle breeds in the places where their breeding history began. These breeds, many of them at risk of extinction, had to be portrayed in their own environments in order to illustrate how these environments had influenced their appearance. What emerged was a series of images of docile animals portrayed in often harsh landscapes, which at the same time document the ongoing conditioning by the environment on the forms of life also in breeding conditions.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
In 1980, Isa Genzken took a series of close-ups of the ears of women she encountered on the streets of New York. The typical portraiture approach used in the photographs exalts and enhances the characteristics of the represented subject, on the one hand, but at the same time, with the anonymity of the immortalized figure, creates a contrast. In the course of the evolution of the human species, the ear has lost its value in terms of expressive power. While in many animal species ears still play an important role in expressing emotions, in the human being they are stiffly positioned at the sides of the head and no longer react to emotional states along with the facial muscles. Georg Simmel, a sociologist of the senses, sees the ear as merely a passive appendage in the human appearance. For Simmel, the ear is the selfish organ par excellence, which simply takes without giving. Genzken contradicts this verdict, because the ears she photographs, with all the ornaments attached, eloquently express individual differences.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
In her first institutional exhibition, presented at the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld in 1979, alongside sculptures and drawings, Isa Genzken exhibited a photography series dedicated to the latest and most expensive Hi-Fi systems. She created it by cutting out ads for turntables and amplifiers from international magazines and then photographing them. As she told photographer Wolfgang Tillmans in an interview, those advertisements showcased some of the most advanced technology of the time, highlighting cutting-edge design. Genzken also stated that a sculpture should be at least as modern as those devices. Her photography series dedicated to Hi-Fi systems can therefore be interpreted as a conceptual and aesthetic investigation of whether or not her sculptures and works could be compared to the everyday beauty of a stereo system.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Sigmar Polke (German, 1941-2010) Handschuhpalme (Glove palm tree) 1966 From the series … Höhere Wesen Befehlen, 1968 (… Higher beings Command, 1968) 13 stampe offset su carta artistica / 13 offset prints on art paper MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, Frankfurt am Main
Lotte Jacobi, known for her portraits of intellectuals including Martin Buber and W.E.B du Bois, artists such as Marc Chagall, and poets including Robert Frost and Vladimir Mayakovsky, created a series of plant portraits in 1930. Apart from the individual flowers of the Orchis latifolia, the broad-leaved helleborine or orchid, and Neottia nidus avis, the bird’s nest, she photographed an orchid in its entirety. The names of the plants, which Jacobi, like Karl Blossfeldt, makes explicit in the titles of the photographs, are an integral part of the unique poetics of the subjects. With her plant portraits, Jacobi followed in the tradition of the 1920s workers’ movement’s vision of nature. In fact, Jacobi was a member of the Vereinigung der Arbeiterfotografen Deutschlands (Union of German Labor Photographers), an organisation of photographers who documented the social life and struggles of the German working class.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
In his photography, Thomas Struth has always been interested in the streets, squares, and houses of cities that consciously or unconsciously shape our experience, as well as that of the passers-by who walk through them. The study People on the Street, Düsseldorf 1974-78 explores the movements and figures of individuals passing in front of the camera lens. The subjects are never shot at close range. While some facial features are blurred in movement, others are clearly visible. Even if they are differentiated by their jackets, coats, or bags, all the subjects have a directional gait in common. No one is simply ‘here’: they all have an intention, which each person pursues in their own way.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Umbo (Otto Umbehr) (German, 1902-1980) Untitled (Kindergarten) 1928 Gelatin silver print Berlinische Galerie – Museum of Modern Art, Photography and Architecture, Berlin Permanent loan from the Federal Republic of Germany represented by the Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Umbo – born Otto Umbehr – found his expressive tool in the camera in 1926. In the early 1920s he studied at the Bauhaus with the intention of becoming a painter, until Walter Gropius, the director of the Institute, expelled him from the school for improper conduct. He then found in photography the medium that allowed him to work with his distinctive play of light and shadow. Photographs such as Unheimliche Straße (Eerie Street, 1928), Am Strand (auch Strandleben) (On the beach [also beach life], 1930) and Ohne Titel (Kindergarten) (Untitled [Kindergarten], 1930) epitomize his artistic innovations. There is nothing random in these images: everything has been composed. Umbo’s photographs are the opposite of snapshots or shots that capture the emotion of a moment; they express a formal intent without overpowering reality. Therefore, with all their poetry, they retain an abstract component. What clearly surfaces in this primacy of composition is his connection to the Bauhaus philosophy, which emphasised design and structure over emotion or spontaneity.
Exhibition text from the Fondazione Prada by Cord Riechelmann
Fondazione Prada Milan Largo Isarco 2, within the Podium spaces 20139 MILAN Phone: +39 02 5666 2611
‘Remember Me. Postmortems from the M. G. Jacob Collection’ and ‘Through Light. The First 20 Years of Photography in the Photo Library Collections’
Postmortem curators: Monica Leoni, Elisabeth Sciarretta with Laura Gasparini and Michael G. Jacob
Attraverso la luce curators: Monica Leoni, Elisabeth Sciarretta with Laura Gasparini
Sleeping beauty
“When I am dead and in my grave
And all my bones are rotten.
When this you see remember me
Lest I should be forgotten.”
This is the first posting on Art Blart on the phenomenon of postmortem photography for exhibitions on this subject are few and far between.
Any photograph is a “little death” which “refers to the concept of “la petite mort” or “the little death,” a French idiom and euphemism for the momentary loss of consciousness or breath, often associated with orgasm, but also used to describe the act of freezing a moment in time through photography. This concept suggests that photography, by capturing a specific moment, essentially stops time and thus, in a way, creates a small, contained death of that moment.” (Google AI Overview)
All photographs (and especially postmortem photography where the deceased are memorialised through images) can be seen as “memento mori”, a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die,” reminding us that of the impermanence of life – for photographs “capture a moment in time, forever preserving a fleeting instant and highlighting the passage of time and the inevitability of death.” (Google AI Overview)
As Susan Sontag observed, “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability.” (On Photography)
Victorians were faced with the vicissitudes of fortune, and death at any age was a common occurrence due to illness with no antibiotics available to treat the many lethal diseases. They became stoic in the face of the impermanence of life, stoic in the face of death and through photography, sought to record into permanence the likenesses of the departed (the beloved), so that they could remember and honour them. Photographs thus became symbols of mortality which encouraged reflection on the meaning and fleetingness of life…
But unlike a photographic self-portrait, where a human looks at their image (in which they are dead) which reminds them about their physical death in the future, an anterior future of which death is the stake (and the prick of discovery of this equivalence)1 – in postmortem photography the little death and the actual death are as one for the anterior future can never be viewed by the subject of the photograph (they are dead), a separation only revived in the heart and mind of another.
Through postmortem photography the deceased live in an interstitial space, forever brought back to life in the eyes of the viewer as we reawaken and reactivate their spirit in the world. I was once here and I am again. Remember me.
Thus the euphemism “sleeping” is appropriate (sleeping beauty awakened once more with a kiss), as the viewer transcends time bringing past dead back into living world – where past, present and future coalesce into single point in time – their death and our death connected through the gaze and the knowledge of our discontinuity. Eons contracted into an eternal moment.2
In this expanded-specific moment in time, through an awareness of our own dis/continuity, what we are doing is talking about something that is remarkable. We are moving towards a language that defines the human condition…
Dr Marcus Bunyan
1/ Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida (La Chambre claire), Section 39, 1980
2/ Marcus Bunyan. “This is not my favourite photograph,” part of What makes a great photograph? at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Fitzroy, Wednesday 5th December 2012 [Online] Cited 27/06/2025
Many thankx to the Biblioteca Panizzi and Michael G. Jacob for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Unknown photographer (American) A sleeping man c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A sleeping man (detail) c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
Ricordati di me
Una esposizione dedicata alla collezione di Michael G. Jacob, alla riscoperta della fotografia “post mortem”: la realizzazione di immagini commemorative di familiari defunti per genitori, amici e parenti era un aspetto significativo del lavoro quotidiano di molti studi fotografici vittoriani.
An exhibition dedicated to the collection of Michael G. Jacob, to the rediscovery of “post mortem” photography: the creation of commemorative images of deceased family members for parents, friends and relatives was a significant aspect of the daily work of many Victorian photographic studios.
Text translated by Google Translate from the Biblioteca Panizzi website
Unknown photographer (American) A sleeping girl c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A woman with long fingernails, bured teeth & cut flowers c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A woman with long fingernails, bured teeth & cut flowers (detail) c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) Young girl holding a daguerrotype c. 1846 Daguerreotype Title given by the collector
L’esposizione dedicata alla collezione di Michael G. Jacob alla riscoperta della fotografia “post mortem” nell’epoca vittoriana, ha l’intento di illustrare il legame di affezione e rispetto di quella cultura che indusse i vivi a ricordare i propri defunti, analizzando come, dopo gli anni Quaranta del XIX secolo, la fotografia sia diventata centrale anche nel modo di sentire e vivere il lutto.
La pratica di raffigurare il volto del defunto è antichissima e la fotografia si innesta in questa tradizione, modificando il modo di vivere e comunicare il lutto. Come tutte le tradizioni più o meno radicate, anche nella colta ed evoluta Europa le esequie e il lutto seguono consuetudini e usanze che si sono perdute o modificate nel tempo. Il galateo del lutto, in epoca vittoriana, è uno degli aspetti per noi meno comprensibili ma più affascinanti, i cui codici, nel tempo, sono andati perduti o si sono radicalmente trasformati.
I rituali funebri, così come venivano concepiti dai vittoriani, si manifestavano in comportamenti, abbigliamento e usanze che spesso appaiono eccessivi per la sensibilità moderna e hanno oggi bisogno di essere decodificati per comprenderne la vasta iconografia. L’antropologia e la sociologia ci hanno spiegato quali reazioni emotive e formali l’essere umano ha avuto nel corso del tempo di fronte alla morte e al corpo dei defunti, indotte dalla cultura a cui apparteniamo, mentre la fotografia contribuisce sostanzialmente a documentare questa cultura del lutto.
The exhibition dedicated to the Michael G. Jacob collection and the rediscovery of “post mortem” photography in the Victorian era, aims to illustrate the bond of affection and respect of that culture that induced the living to remember their dead, analysing how, after the 1840s, photography also became central to the way of feeling and experiencing mourning.
The practice of depicting the face of the deceased is very ancient and photography is grafted onto this tradition, modifying the way of experiencing and communicating mourning. Like all more or less rooted traditions, even in cultured and evolved Europe, funerals and mourning follow customs and habits that have been lost or modified over time. The etiquette of mourning, in the Victorian era, is one of the aspects that is least comprehensible to us but most fascinating, whose codes, over time, have been lost or have radically transformed.
Funeral rituals, as conceived by the Victorians, manifested themselves in behaviors, clothing and customs that often seem excessive for modern sensibilities and today need to be decoded to understand their vast iconography. Anthropology and sociology have explained to us what emotional and formal reactions human beings have had over time in front of death and the body of the deceased, induced by the culture to which we belong, while photography contributes substantially to documenting this culture of mourning.
Text translated by Google Translate from the Biblioteca Panizzi website
Unknown photographer (American) A mother, daughter and dead infant c. 1848 Daguerreotype retouched in colour Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A family group 1853 Daguerreotype Date in handwritten characters on the lower edge of the daguerreotype: “July 15 1853” Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A family group (detail) 1853 Daguerreotype Date in handwritten characters on the lower edge of the daguerreotype: “July 15 1853” Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) Sleeping baby c. 1860 Ambrotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) Sleeping baby (detail) c. 1860 Ambrotype Title given by the collector
Unknown photographer (American) A Sleeping child c. 1860 Ferrotype Title given by the collector
Attraverso la luce
In occasione di Fotografia Europea, la Biblioteca Panizzi propone una mostra dedicata ai primi 20 anni della fotografia nelle collezioni della Fototeca attraverso l’esposizione di fotografie su carta salata, albumine, e dagherrotipi, tra cui la prestigiosa collezione di Michael G. Jacob.
On the occasion of Fotografia Europea, the Panizzi Library presents an exhibition dedicated to the first 20 years of photography in the collections of the Photo Library through the display of photographs on salted paper, albumen, and daguerreotypes, including the prestigious collection of Michael G. Jacob.
Text translated by Google Translate from the Biblioteca Panizzi website
John Brown Portrait of a Young Man c. 1848 3 Daguerreotypes
John Brown Portrait of a Young Man c. 1848 Daguerreotype
John Brown Portrait of a Young Man c. 1848 Daguerreotype
John Brown Portrait of a Young Man c. 1848 Daguerreotype
La mostra presenta un percorso attraverso rari esempi di fotografie su carta salata e numerosi dagherrotipi, ambrotipi, ferrotipi e album delle collezioni della Fototeca della Bibliotecca Panizzi. Una narrazione, quindi, che ci portera indietro nel tempo, agli anni pionieristici della sperimentazione sceintifica attraverso la luce, la chimica e la trasformazione di materiali quali l’argento, per arrivare ali’arte del ritratto e del paesaggio e giungere a quel’oggetto di culto che e stata la fotografia delle origini.
The exhibition presents a journey through rare examples of photographs on salted paper and numerous daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, ferrotypes and albums from the collections of the Photo Library of the Panizzi Library. A narrative, therefore, that will take us back in time, to the pioneering years of scientific experimentation through light, chemistry and the transformation of materials such as silver, to arrive at the art of portraiture and landscape and reach that cult object that was the photography of the origins.
Text translated by Google Translate from the Biblioteca Panizzi website
Unknown photographer (American) Dead child in his mother’s arms c. 1850 Daguerreotype
Unknown photographer (American) Girl holding a flower c. 1850 Daguerreotype
Unknown photographer (American) Freckled girl with daguerreotype c. 1850 Daguerreotype retouched in colour
Unknown photographer (American) Tinted woman c. 1850 Daguerreotype retouched in colour
Unknown photographer (American) Portrait of mother with child c. 1850 Daguerreotype
La magia della luce è stata per secoli oggetto di importanti studi scientifici, ma ha affascinato anche e soprattutto il mondo dell’arte, oltre che la cultura popolare. La fotografia, attraverso i vari procedimenti storici, si inserisce in questo capitolo della storia visuale, intrecciandosi con arte, scienza e tecnologia, unite alla passione comune per la nascita di un nuovo e accattivante linguaggio. La mostra presenta un percorso attraverso gli esemplari che appartengono alla collezione di Michael G. Jacob, ultima acquisita grazie alla generosa donazione di questo importante collezionista e studioso, insieme a rari esempi di fotografie su carta salata e numerosi dagherrotipi, ambrotipi, ferrotipi e album delle collezioni della Fototeca della Biblioteca Panizzi. Una narrazione, quindi, che ci porterà indietro nel tempo, agli anni pionieristici della sperimentazione scientifica attraverso la luce, la chimica e la trasformazione di materiali quali l’argento, per arrivare all’arte del ritratto e del paesaggio e giungere a quell’oggetto di culto che è stata la fotografia delle origini.
The magic of light has been the subject of important scientific studies for centuries, but it has also fascinated the world of art, as well as popular culture. Photography, through its various historical processes, fits into this chapter of visual history, intertwining with art, science and technology, combined with a shared passion for the birth of a new and captivating language. The exhibition presents a journey through the specimens that belong to the collection of Michael G. Jacob, the last acquired thanks to the generous donation of this important collector and scholar, together with rare examples of photographs on salted paper and numerous daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, ferrotypes and albums from the collections of the Photo Library of the Panizzi Library. A narrative, therefore, that will take us back in time, to the pioneering years of scientific experimentation through light, chemistry and the transformation of materials such as silver, to arrive at the art of portraiture and landscape and reach that cult object that was early photography.
Text translated by Google Translate from the Biblioteca Panizzi website
Unknown photographer (American) Coach in park c. 1860 Ambrotype
Unknown photographer (American) Portrait of women c. 1860 Ferrotype
Unknown photographer (American) Double vignette friends c. 1860 Ferrotype
Unknown photographer (American) Well dressed lady c. 1880 Ambrotype
Biblioteca Panizzi Via Luigi Carlo Farini, 3, 42121 Reggio Emilia RE, Italy
Curators: Dennis Bell, founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation, and De Kwok, Head of Public Programming
*PLEASE NOTE: THIS POSTING CONTAINS ART PHOTOGRAPHS OF MALE NUDITY – IF YOU DO NOT LIKE PLEASE DO NOT LOOK, FAIR WARNING HAS BEEN GIVEN*
George Dureau (American, 1930-2014) Untitled Nd Vintage silver gelatin print
Celebrations of the Human Spirit
~ Honesty
~ ~ Integrity
~ ~ ~ Dignity
~ ~ ~ ~ Vulnerability
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Respect
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Love
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Friendship
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sexuality
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Strength
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Beauty
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Form
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Humanism
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Identity
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Personality
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Presence
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Intimacy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nude
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Empathy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Revelation
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Spirit
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Truth
I’ve been wanting to do a posting on the magnificent New Orleans photographer George Dureau’s work for a long while but because there are so few exhibitions of his photographs I have never had the opportunity – until now.
It’s a great pity that his work is not as recognised as that of his contemporaries, Peter Hujar and Robert Mapplethorpe. Indeed, you can still pick up an original Dureau in the secondhand art market for around $500 whereas Mapplethorpe’s photographs run into the many thousands.
His photographs are not romantic, certainly not sentimental. He was fascinated by the people he photographed, their truth. These are the stories he conceptualised, posed, lit and photographed, stories that emerged from his imagination, that revealed surprising things about his subjects.
Unlike the clinical formalism of Mapplethorpe, Dureau worked with a poetry that was always present. Indeed, there is something so eloquent and sincere about his photographs for in them the artist draws (Dureau was also a painter) the mysteries of the soul of his subjects.
Dureau’s response to the world and the photographs that emanate from that engagement are humanist in the best sense of the word, revealing his subjects in a direct way that emphasises an individual’s dignity, worth and capacity for self-realisation.
Thus, I feel his photographs are a celebration not just of the human form but more importantly, of the human spirit.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to Dennis Bell, Corbin Crable and the Bob Mizer Foundation for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
“I live a warm, involved humanist sort of life. There are lots of people passing through it. I have exciting experiences and learn things about people. They always go into my art. I cannot have an experience and it not go into my art.”
George Dureau
John H. Lawrence, HNOC emeritus director of museum programs and himself a fine-art photographer, said Dureau’s portraits reveal a tangible intimacy between photographer and subject.
“George respected the people he asked to sit for him,” said Lawrence. “I don’t say that from a knowledge, just from what the photographs show. The direct stare into the camera, it may have been at George’s direction. Even with the gaze directed in that fashion, you don’t get the kind of quality you see in these portraits unless there is a mutual respect between the photographer and the subject. There is a vibe there that is based on these two people having respect for each other as the photograph is made.”
John H. Lawrence quoted in Dave Walker. “The Intimate Eye of George Dureau,” on The Historic New Orleans Collection website, December 31, 2021 [Online] Cited 20/06/2025
This exhibition presents 25 evocative black-and-white portraits by George Dureau, capturing the resilience and vulnerability of his subjects – from athletes to marginalised individuals – against the vibrant cultural backdrop of New Orleans, where beauty and humanity converge in transformative ways.
Installation view of the exhibition Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form at the Bob Mizer Foundation, San Francisco showing Dureau’s photograph Craig Blanchette, 1992
Installation views of the exhibition Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form at the Bob Mizer Foundation, San Francisco showing Dureau’s photograph John Slate, Nd
Installation view of the exhibition Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form at the Bob Mizer Foundation, San Francisco
Installation views of the exhibition Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form at the Bob Mizer Foundation, San Francisco
The Bob Mizer Foundation proudly presents Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form, an exhibition showcasing 25 evocative black-and-white portraits by the acclaimed New Orleans artist George Dureau. This compelling collection captures the resilience, vulnerability, and individuality of Dureau’s subjects, spanning athletes, performers, and marginalised individuals.
Dureau’s photography transcends traditional portraiture, blending classical composition with the rich cultural spirit of New Orleans. His intimate works explore themes of identity and dignity, transforming vulnerabilities into powerful symbols of humanity’s resilience. The photographs invite viewers to reimagine beauty as inclusive, diverse, and multifaceted.
“George Dureau’s work is a testament to his unique ability to celebrate the human form while challenging societal norms,” says Den Bell, founder of the Bob Mizer Foundation. “His portraits honour the individuality of his subjects while weaving in the vibrancy of New Orleans, making his work timeless and deeply impactful.”
“Dureau photographed people with kindness and sympathy,” added Mizer Foundation’s Head of Programming, De Kwok, “It has been said that his subject matter became a member of his extended family and you can clearly see that in the way his camera lovingly captured them.”
The exhibition will be on view from March 6 to June 28, 2025, at the Bob Mizer Foundation’s Main Gallery. An opening reception will be held on March 6 from 6.00 pm – 8.30 pm, providing an opportunity to explore the works and celebrate Dureau’s extraordinary legacy.
About George Dureau
A celebrated figure in the art world, George Dureau (1930-2014) was renowned for his black-and-white photography and classical paintings. Rooted in the rich cultural heritage of New Orleans, Dureau’s art challenges conventions and highlights the resilience of the human spirit. His work has been exhibited internationally and continues to inspire audiences with its profound emotional depth and technical mastery.
Text from the Bob Mizer Foundation website
George Dureau (American, 1930-2014) Wilbert with Hook Nd Vintage silver gelatin print 20 x 16 inches
This exhibition highlights the remarkable artistry of George Dureau through 25 compelling black-and-white portraits that showcase his unique vision. Created during the 1970s and 1980s, these photographs transcend traditional boundaries, blending classical composition with an unflinching exploration of the human experience. Dureau’s subjects – athletes, performers, friends, and individuals often marginalised by society – are elevated to iconic status through his lens.
The images reveal a profound empathy and an unshakable belief in the inherent dignity of every individual. With a studio rooted in the vibrant cultural milieu of New Orleans, Dureau captured not only the physical form but also the spirit of his subjects, transforming their vulnerabilities into striking symbols of resilience and humanity. His work redefines beauty as inclusive and multifaceted, challenging societal norms and inviting reflection on identity, strength, and community.
This exhibition Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form presents 25 photographs by one of New Orleans’ most celebrated artists. Dureau’s black-and-white portraits, taken primarily during the 1970s and 1980s, capture the raw beauty, strength, and vulnerability of his subjects. Known for his classical approach and profound empathy, Dureau’s work invites us to confront traditional notions of beauty, body, and identity while celebrating the richness of the human experience.
George Dureau’s intimate portraits are both timeless and grounded in the rich cultural tapestry of New Orleans. His subjects include athletes, performers, friends, and marginalised individuals – including amputees and people with disabilities – rendered with dignity and compassion. Through his lens, Dureau elevates these figures to monumental status, echoing the grandeur of classical sculpture and Renaissance painting. His compositions emphasize the interplay of light and shadow, underscoring the sculptural quality of the human form.
One cannot discuss Dureau’s photography without acknowledging his connection to the city of New Orleans. His studio in the French Quarter became a space of artistic exploration, where he cultivated a dynamic and diverse community. This exhibition captures the spirit of that time and place, highlighting the distinct cultural influences that informed his work. The city’s unique blend of European, African, and Creole traditions provided a fertile ground for Dureau’s creativity, inspiring him to blend the classical and contemporary, the local and the universal.
Dureau’s photographs are celebrated not only for their technical mastery but also for their emotional depth. His subjects often meet the camera’s gaze directly, creating a sense of intimacy and trust. This rapport between artist and subject is palpable, revealing layers of vulnerability and strength. By choosing subjects who were often overlooked or marginalised, Dureau challenges societal norms and compels viewers to reconsider preconceived notions of worth and beauty.
This exhibition also explores the parallels between Dureau’s work and that of his contemporary, Robert Mapplethorpe. While the two artists shared a fascination with the human form and the dramatic use of black-and-white photography, their approaches diverged in significant ways. Dureau’s images are imbued with warmth and humanity that reflect his deep connection to his subjects. Unlike Mapplethorpe, who often sought a polished and idealised aesthetic, Dureau embraced imperfection and individuality, resulting in portraits that are as soulful as they are striking.
Among the works on display are several of Dureau’s most iconic images. Craig Blanchette, 1992 (above) captures a young man with a disarming gaze, his body framed in chiaroscuro that highlights his muscular form and absence of legs. The image challenges the viewer to see beyond the physical difference, emphasising Craig’s confidence and vitality. Similarly, Roosevelt Singleton features a subject with dwarfism, his ethereal presence heightened by the soft, diffused light. These works exemplify Dureau’s ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, presenting his subjects as both individuals and archetypes.
Dureau’s artistry extends beyond the purely visual. His photographs resonate with themes of resilience, identity, and community. They ask us to confront the complexities of human existence and to celebrate the diversity of the human condition. By placing marginalised individuals at the forefront of his work, Dureau not only elevates their stories but also reflects the universal truths of vulnerability and strength that connect us all.
This exhibition offers viewers the opportunity to engage with Dureau’s legacy in a deeply personal way. Each photograph serves as a testament to the power of art to reveal the unseen, to challenge the status quo, and to inspire empathy. Through his lens, Dureau reminds us that every individual – regardless of their physical appearance or societal status – possesses inherent dignity and beauty.
The 31 photographs selected for this show represent the breadth and depth of Dureau’s oeuvre. From tender portraits of friends to bold explorations of the male nude, the images on display capture the full spectrum of his artistic vision. Each piece is a study in contrasts: light and shadow, strength and vulnerability, individuality and universality. Together, they form a cohesive narrative that celebrates the complexity of the human experience.
George Dureau’s work has left an indelible mark on the world of photography and beyond. His ability to see and celebrate the humanity in every subject has cemented his place as a true visionary. This exhibition, Beyond Symmetry: George Dureau’s Celebrations of the Human Form, invites you to step into his world – a world where beauty is redefined, where differences are celebrated, and where the human spirit shines through in every frame.
As you explore these images, consider the stories they tell and the questions they pose. How do we define beauty? What does it mean to see and be seen? And how can art challenge us to look beyond the surface and connect with the essence of another human being? In celebrating the life and work of George Dureau, we celebrate the power of art to transform, to inspire, and to unite us all.
I absolutely adore these Peter Mitchell 1970s colour photographs made from Hasselblad two and a quarter square negatives.
There is something so …. well, British about them.
The wit, the humour (pigeons sitting outside the racing pigeon shop), the stiff upper lip, the carry on regardless, the working class pantomime of life and death – the public commission flats where people formed caring communities that were destroyed through redevelopment – the integrity of an existence that has largely come and gone pictured with warmth and empathy.
The people, growing up during the Second World War the privations of which lasted well into the 1950s, now during a period of change in the 1970s standing behind the fish ‘n chip counter wondering where their lives had gone and how they had got there, but still with that British sense of spirit and grit.
Peter Mitchell, “a chaser of a disappearing world” pictures these “goners” – buildings, people (and a way of life) near the end of existence soon to be demolished – in an almost painterly manner.
His use of colour, perspective and form is very fine. Witness, the flow of the photograph ‘Edna, George & Pat, H.E. Greenwood Butcher, Waterloo Road, Leeds, 1977’ (below) as, in the shot, the camera allows the eye to pan from one vanishing point at left to the other at right, with the patchwork of colours and panels of the building creating an almost Mondrian-like texture – blue to black to beige to white sign to pale blue to yellow to green to pale green, surmounted by the dark blue of the threatening sky highlighting the jagged form of the building. Superb.
My favourite photograph in the posting is The Chair, Priestly House Interior, Quarry Hill Flats, Leeds, 1978 (below). This photograph is from what I believe to be Mitchell’s strongest body of work on the demolition of the Quarry Hill Flats in Leeds. ‘One of those doomed deserts was Quarry Hill flats, irresistible both as a symbol of the fate of all architecture and of the great clock in the heavens signalling everybody’s life span’ (Peter Mitchell quoted on The Guardian website)
A drab, beige, wallpapered room with double aspect window, an art deco chair with mirror reflecting nothing, an electrical socket, a ceiling light sprouting malignant plant and trapped in the window panes, little birds fluttering against their capture, trapped forever inside an abandoned flat, this abandoned life.
Yes, there’s a sense of nostalgia and melancholy in these photographs but their restrained, formal, representation of life does much to ennoble the people and buildings contained within them which, through osmosis, ennobles the mind of the viewer.
As I myself sense the great clock in the heavens signalling my life span, the pleasure and comfort I get from feeling the spirit of Peter Mitchell’s photographs is immeasurable.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to the Photographers’ Gallery for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
‘Mr and Mrs Hudson in Seacroft Green, Leeds. I took this photograph on the 14 August 1974 at about 11am. I like the way the ladder is propping up the shop. They had just moved into a new shop on the same spot, with the church getting a facelift to match’
Is the man with the wrench a mechanic? Why is the woman with the clapped-out Porsche looking so naughty? Will James C Gallagher, whose business it is, always have his back to the camera? And after painting the wall, why did Barry have to leave Leeds? The council demolished the lot shortly after this snap.
A retrospective of work by one of the leading early colour photographers of the 20th century opens this March at The Photographers’ Gallery.
Peter Mitchell (b. 1943, UK) is widely regarded as one of the most important early colour photographers of the 1970s and 1980s. A powerful storyteller and social historian, Mitchell’s photography unfolds a longstanding and poetic connection with Leeds. He has chronicled the people and fortunes of the city with warmth and familiarity for over 40 years.
Described as ‘a narrator of who we were, a chaser of a disappearing world’ (Val Williams), his work reveals his love, and at times quirky, off-beat vision, of the people and changing face of Leeds.
The retrospective explores the breadth of Mitchell’s photographic practice. It brings together his famous series ‘A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission’, which imagines England as seen through the eyes of an alien from Mars, demolished flats, shopkeepers and their shops, and boarded-up and disused buildings, as well as his portraits of scarecrows. The exhibition marks a return to The Photographers’ Gallery for Mitchell – he first exhibited at the Gallery in 1984.
A chronicler of a changing city, he said of his work photographing the demise of the iconic Quarry Hills Estate in Leeds, ‘I know there was no point in keeping Quarry Hill flats. But what it stood for might have been worth keeping.’
Calling himself ‘a man of the pavement’, Mitchell continues to regularly walk the streets of Leeds to photograph his beloved hometown today.
Peter Mitchell: Nothing Lasts Forever will include rarely seen works from Mitchell’s own collection, personal ephemera and found objects.
Peter Mitchell: Nothing Lasts Forever is in collaboration with Leeds Art Gallery. Nothing Lasts Forever, published by RRB Photobooks, is available now.
Peter Mitchell
Peter Mitchell was born in Manchester in 1943. He studied at Hornsey College of Art in London, then moved north to look for work and never left. Living and working in Leeds for much of his life, Mitchell treats his surrounding with a unique sense of care. An essential part of the colour documentary scene in the 1970s and 80s, Mitchell’s landmark show A New Refutation of the Space Viking 4 Mission at Impressions Gallery in York in 1979 was the first colour photography show in the UK.
‘I photograph dying buildings and Quarry Hill was terminal by the time I got to it. Times change and I know there was no point in keeping Quarry Hill flats. But what it stood for might have been worth keeping’
‘One of those doomed deserts was Quarry Hill flats, irresistible both as a symbol of the fate of all architecture and of the great clock in the heavens signalling everybody’s life span’
Francis Craven on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds in April 1979. He’d built this apparition himself but was having trouble with its arms – the pulleys had given out
Text from the Guardian website
Peter Mitchell’s A New Refutation of the Viking 4 Space Mission features photos and portraits, taken in Leeds in the 1970s. The pictures show the traditional urban landscape presented on a background of space charts, the concept being that an alien has landed from Mars and is wandering around Leeds with a degree of surprise and puzzlement.
In the Earthly vernacular these photographs are of Nowheresville. Yet, for some people, they are the centre of the universe. Usually they call it Home.
Mitchell’s series documents backstreets, corner shops, factories, churches and cemeteries in Leeds and Sheffield, as well as other locations in Cumbria and London, building a compelling picture of these cities during the late 1970s. Many of the portraits show the city inhabitants standing outside their homes or places of work. Equal attention is paid to the entirety of the setting, the figures often appearing dwarfed in the composition by their surroundings. The majority of the subjects gaze directly at the camera adopting stiff, frontal poses giving the images a formal impression and sense of stillness. Describing the distinctive style and subject matter of the photographs, historian David Mellor has commented, ‘it is as if Alan Bennett had met Diane Arbus in an urban picaresque’ (Mellor 2005, accessed 12 June 2017).
Ruins, crumbling facades, abandoned shops and cemeteries punctuate the series, pointing to themes of life, death, memory and loss. For example, Mitchell’s pictures includes shots of Mrs Lee’s dress shop – which burnt down the day after closure – a decayed synagogue and a defunct station in Sheffield, where the trains pass through but never stop. The 1970s were a time of great change in Britain as it struggled with widespread social unrest as well as the collapse of heavy industries. Commenting on this aspect of the series, Mellor noted, ‘NASA’s 1976 Viking Landers were a triumph of robotics, of remote sensing and imaging – that very culture of digitised information which was to supplant the manual world of industrial era Leeds.’ (Ibid.)
Text is a crucial element in Mitchell’s work, and each image in this series is accompanied by a caption to be displayed alongside. These idiosyncratic snippets of text are excerpted from Mitchell’s diary, and range from deadpan descriptions of place, to short anecdotes and humorous musings. Historian Val Williams has likened the artist’s distinctive combination of photography and text across his different bodies of work to the Situationist writing of the French theorist Guy Debord. …
Mitchell’s work occupies an important position within the history of colour photography specifically. He was photographing in colour at a time when black and white was the predominate medium for documentary photography in Britain, and before colour photography was fully embraced by museum collections. His work thus evidences an alternate history of colour photography distinct from the predominant narrative of the emergence of colour photography in the United States in the work of photographers such as William Eggleston (born 1939) and Stephen Shore (born 1947).
Sarah Allen June 2016
Collection text on the Tate website [Online] Cited 24/05/2025
His early photographs were made in the 1970s and 80s, when he was working as a truck driver. His vantage point removed him from the immediacy of the street, and he developed his distinctive graphic framing of the buildings and landscapes, which reveal the layers of urban and social history
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mr Finlay, deerstalker in the employ of Campbell of Islay [b] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20.1 x 13.6cm Scottish National Gallery
This photograph shows Mr Finlay in Highland dress, possibly chosen by his employer. Although there is a rich history of tartan appearing in earlier portrait painting, Hill and Adamson were among the first to photograph this iconic Scottish fabric. The calotype process does not show colour, but it offered a means to capture the detail of the different styles of woven fabric. The differences in weave density and pattern between two tartans is clearly visible.
I have supplemented the meagre seven media images with other photographs from the Scottish National Gallery collection (public domain) which I have selected to further illustrate the fashion & textile theme of the exhibition.
Taken within the first few years of the invention of photography, Hill & Adamson had a profound understanding of how the spirit of a person could be captured by the camera, clothed in working class attire, the robes of respectable society, or fantastical creations of their imagination.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to the National Galleries of Scotland for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Sir George Harvey, 1806 – 1876. Artist [a] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20 x 16cm Scottish National Gallery Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
George Harvey’s boldly patterned coat was likely selected to make this portrait of an artist appear exotic. In the final print this flamboyant garment draws our eye to the sitter, in contrast with the softly draping fabric background and the hard stone of the statue in the corner.
This small display highlights the remarkable skill of pioneering photographers Hill and Adamson in using this very new technology to showcase the fashions of the 1840s.
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were working in Edinburgh when photography was in its infancy. They used the calotype process, where a paper negative prepared with a salt solution is used to print a positive photograph. It created a much softer image than later photographs made with glass negatives, making it harder to capture detail.
Hill and Adamson depicted many Edinburgh residents during their partnership, from working men to society ladies. They often focused on people’s clothing to demonstrate what was unique about their lives and posed their sitters to highlight particularly interesting details. They embraced the technical challenge of photographing the varied textiles and fashions of the day. Still experimenting with the calotype process, they successfully show us the delicate pattern on a pair of lace gloves, the rough wool of tartans and tweeds and the sheen of silk.
Text from the National Galleries of Scotland website
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Lady Mary Hamilton (Campbell) Ruthven, 1789 – 1885. Wife of James, Lord Ruthven [a] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 19.8 x 15.3cm Scottish National Gallery Gift of Mrs. Riddell in memory of Peter Fletcher Riddell, 1985
The subject of this photograph is Lady Ruthven but the focus is on her clothing. The pose, with her body angled diagonally away from the camera, allowed Hill and Adamson to capture how light fell on the different textures in her outfit. In both the negative and the final print, the intricate lace of her shawl is almost translucent draped over the delicate pattern of the dress below. This is one of the most technically accomplished photographs made by Hill and Adamson during their partnership.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mr Laing or Laine 1843 Salted paper print 19.6 x 14.3cm Scottish National Gallery
The identity of the smartly dressed tennis player in this staged scene is uncertain and yet this calotype has become a popular picture postcard. Hill and Adamson are best remembered for the subtlety and perceptiveness of their photographic portraits but at times they showed a keenness for the representation of movement. Here movement is easy to detect in the blur of the racket and the man’s forearm. The player’s intense gaze furthermore suggests that a tennis ball just just gone out of the picture frame.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Misses Binney 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20.4 x 14.6cm Scottish National Gallery Given by Miss Janet Notman
These photographs of the aristocratic Misses Binney have been carefully staged to highlight the rich and varied textiles in their outfits. The positioning in this photograph of Miss Binney’s lace-gloved hand on the dark fabric of her sister’s shawl enhances the contrast between the delicate pattern and her pale skin. This image demonstrates Hill and Adamson’s skill in capturing the unique qualities of lace, silk and satin.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Jimmy Miller. Son of Professor James Miller [c] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20.5 x 14.3cm Scottish National Gallery Given by Miss Janet Notman
Jimmy Miller was the son of James Miller, a professor of surgery at the University of Edinburgh from 1842, and an advocate of the temperance movement. The family were supporters of and had taken part in the disruption of 1843 , where a group of 450 ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to establish the Free Church of Scotland. Jimmy was one of the few children to appear in Hill’s painting commemorating the event. Hill referred to him as ‘The Young Savage’.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mr Lane [called John Lane, Dr Lane and Edward William Lane] [a] 1843-1847 Materials: Salted paper print 19.8 x 14.5cm Scottish National Gallery Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
Although this sitter is named as Mr Lane, his identity and connection to India are uncertain. During their partnership, Hill and Adamson made a small number of portraits of sitters in South Asian national dress. Mr Lane has been posed to show the layering of different patterns and textures. His position also allows us to see the shape of his headdress, and the way the beads around his neck interact with the ornate fabric of his robe and the pale undershirt below.
More Hill & Adamson photographs showing fashion not in the display
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mrs Anne (Palgrave) Rigby 1777 – 1872 [f] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 19 x 14.4cm Scottish National Gallery Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
Anne Rigby was the widowed wife of a doctor and had fourteen children. While living in Edinburgh in the 1840s, she and her daughters were photographed on a number of occasions by Hill and Adamson. This photograph bears a striking resemblance to Whistler’s famous portrait of his mother, which is not at all surprising given that the two ladies were friends. Mrs Whistler may have owned a copy of this calotype of Mrs Rigby.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mrs Kinloch. Of Park; nee Napier [b] 1843-1846 Salted paper print 20.9 x 15.4cm Scottish National Gallery
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Lady Elizabeth (Rigby) Eastlake, 1809 – 1893. Writer [m] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20.8 x 15.7cm Scottish National Gallery Gift of Mrs. Riddell in memory of Peter Fletcher Riddell, 1985
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Mrs Elizabeth (Johnstone) Hall [Newhaven] 1843 – 1847 Carbon print 19.80x 14.6cm Scottish National Gallery Edinburgh Photographic Society Collection, gifted 1987
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Miss Ellen and Miss Agnes Milne [Group 194] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 18.6 x 14cm Scottish National Gallery Edinburgh Photographic Society Collection, gifted 1987
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Rev. John Wilson, 1804 – 1875. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bombay 1843-1847; printed later Salted paper print 22.8 x 16.1cm Scottish National Gallery The MacKinnon Collection. Acquired jointly with the National Library of Scotland with assistance from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Art Fund
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Willie Liston, ‘Redding [cleaning or preparing] the line’; Newhaven fisherman [Newhaven 3] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20 x 14.1cm Scottish National Gallery Gift of Mrs. Riddell in memory of Peter Fletcher Riddell, 1985
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Dr George Bell. Founder of ‘Ragged Schools’ [c] 1843-1847 Carbon print 21.3 x 16cm Scottish National Gallery Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Rev. Peter Jones or Kahkewaquonaby, 1802 – 1856. Indian chief and missionary in Canada [c] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20.2 x 14.6cm Scottish National Gallery Purchased from the estate of Sophia Finlay (Charles Finlay’s Trust), 1937
Born in Canada, Peter Jones’ father was a Welsh-born, American immigrant and his mother was of Ojibwa Indian ancestry. He grew up as a Native-American Indian with the name ‘Kahkewāquonāby’, meaning sacred waving feathers. Following his father’s wishes he was baptised by the Methodist church which led to his role as an Indian missionary. To fundraise he toured the United States and the United Kingdom, giving speeches and sermons to captivated audiences. He arrived in Edinburgh in July 1845 and this calotype is one of a series showing Jones in both Indian attire and western clothes. These are some of the oldest surviving photographs of a North American Indian.
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Lady Abercromby (or Hon Mrs Abercromby) 1843-1847 Carbon print 20.2 x 15.7cm (trimmed) Scottish National Gallery Elliot Collection, bequeathed 1950
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) Lane and Lewis in oriental dress 1843-1847 Salted paper print 20 x 14.2cm Scottish National Gallery
David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) James Drummond, 1816 – 1877. History painter; curator of the National Gallery of Scotland [b] 1843-1847 Salted paper print 19.3 x 14.7cm
James Drummond was an accomplished artist and antiquarian, who specialised in history paintings. He studied at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh and was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1852. Between 1848 and 1859 Drummond produced a series of pencil and wash drawings of closes, streets and buildings in Edinburgh. They were later published as lithographs in a folio volume entitled ‘Old Edinburgh’. In 1868 Drummond became curator of the Scottish National Gallery, a position he held until his death in 1877. An admirer of the new medium of photography, he was a member of the Photographic Society of Scotland and owned two albums of Hill and Adamson’s calotypes.
National Galleries of Scotland The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Exhibiting artists: Colin Abbott, Robert Ashton, Con Aslanis, Polly Borland, Peter Bowes, John Brash, Peter Burgess, Nanette Carter, John Cato, Andrew Chapman, Lyn Cheong, Jon Conte, Kim Corbel, Paul Cox, Mimmo Cozzolino, Christina de Water, Duncan Frost, Rob Gale, Sandra Graham, Bill Henson, Julie Higginbotham, Graham Howe, Carol Jerrems, Moira Joseph, Peter Kelly, Christopher Köller, Johann Krix, Paul Lambeth, Derrick Lee, Peter Leiss, Carolyn Lewens, Steven Lojewski, Ian Macrae, James McArdle, Jim McFarlane, Rod McNicol, Julie Millowick, Peter Milne, Jacqueline Mitelman, Richard Muggleton, Martin Munz, Nicholas Nedelkopoulos, Greg Neville, Glen O’Malley, Viki Petherbridge, Ross Powell, Philip Quirk, Leonie Reisberg, Susan Russell, Stella Sallman, Athol Shmith, Geoff Strong, Ian Tippett, George Volakos, Stephen Wickham, Andrew Wittner, Ken Wright, Lynette Zeeng
Andrew Chapman (Australian, b. 1954) Lest we forget 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024
Nurture
A world of creativity and transformation
This is a magnificent exhibition at the Museum of Australian Photography which showcases the work of students and teachers at Prahran College between 1958-1981.
People more eminent than myself have commented on the exhibition.
Gael Newton AM – formerly curator of photography at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Senior Curator of Australian and International Photography at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra – “highlights the diverse and passionate nature of the Prahran College community, where an unstructured curriculum and open debates encouraged multiple approaches – from documentary and still life to collage and staged tableau – while the influence of European cinematic sensibilities and the local film and music scenes added depth to the artistic expression.”1
Daniel Palmer – Professor in the School of Art at RMIT University, his research and professional practice focuses on contemporary art and cultural theory, with a particular emphasis on photography and digital media – commenting on the era “frames the 1970s as a transformative era for Australian society and photography, characterised by social activism.”1
Helen Ennis – formerly Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australia and outstanding writer on Australian photography and photographers – emphasises “productive intergenerational exchanges between students and their older educators Prahran represented a space of creative possibility and hope” while acknowledging Prahran’s limitations including gender imbalance, “noting examination records from 1974 showing only five of twenty students were female, with the first woman (Julie Millowick) not appointed to teach until 1983.”1
“Ennis’s address brings to light from The Basement a critical reassessment of how we understand and present 1970s Australian photography. She advocated for approaches that preserve the complexity, contradictions, and energy of this formative period rather than imposing retrospective order that might simplify or misrepresent it. Her reflections bridge historical understanding with contemporary curatorial practice, suggesting ways to engage more authentically with photography’s rich past.”2
Bill Henson AO – former student and internationally acclaimed photographer – acknowledges that “that political movements such as feminism were present among Prahran’s students in the 1970s – “there were the feminists; there were little groups doing their social diligence” – he noted that these stances did not overshadow the college’s overarching emphasis on beauty and creative exploration. “There wasn’t this righteousness, this indignation, this kind of territorial thing about issues,” he said. In contrast there was an openness and enthusiasm that defined Prahran during his time there – a place where beauty and creativity were paramount.”3
On reflection
What struck me most about this exhibition was the creative strength of the STUDENT work … and that is something nobody mentions. This was student work.
These were artists finding their personal voice, exploring the world, being creative, learning how to envision the world in their photographs – through social documentary or conceptual, experimental photographs that challenged how Australian viewed itself. As Assoc. Professor James McArdle, a former student and one of the many driving forces behind this exhibition, insightfully observes:
“Prahran, at this time, was a nexus for the ‘New Photography’ movement in Australia, bringing to our country international developments from the 1960s, the candid, loosely structured photographic language that contrasted sharply with the rigid narratives of photojournalism and the increasingly commercial aesthetics of colour photography.
Prahran College itself played a critical role in the legitimisation of photography as an art form within Australia. It spearheaded the integration of art photography into tertiary education curricula, fostering an environment where young artists … could experiment formally and conceptually.”4
Indeed, Melbourne in the late 1960s and early 1970s could be seen as the nurturing centre of photography in Australia.
As my friend Ian Lobb said to me before he died, “In 1970 where did you go to see a fine art photograph on exhibition in a non-institutional gallery in Melbourne? The only place was the doorway to the John Cato / Athol Shmith / Peter Barr studio in Collins Street. You would never know which of the three photographers would have a print placed in that doorway.”5
But then things changed.
Variously, Melbourne had Jenny Boddington appointed curator of photography in 1972 at the National Gallery of Victoria, becoming the first such curator in Australia and perhaps only the third in the world.
Melbourne also had three commercial art photography galleries that supported local and international exhibitions, exposing major international photographers to local artists. These included Brummels Gallery of Photography reopened in the early 1970s by that wonderful photographer Rennie Ellis and deputy director Robert Ashton (Prahran), the first privately run art gallery in the country to be devoted specifically to photography; The Photographers’ Gallery and Workshop founded in 1973 by Paul Cox (Prahran), Ingeborg Tyssen, John F. Williams and Rod McNicol (Prahran), taken over by Ian Lobb in 1974 and joined by co-director Bill Heimerman in 1976 showcasing mostly American and some European original fine prints from major artists which were influential on Australian audiences and practitioners; and Church Street Photographic Centre opened by Joyce Evans OAM in 1976, the third commercial photographic gallery in 1970s Melbourne which exhibited international 19th and 20th Century photography
Prahran College was closely followed by Phillip Institute of Technology (PIT) which was a tertiary college in Bundoora which had an art photography course run by Ian Lobb and Les Walkling, from 6 January 1982 to 30 June 1992 at which time the school integrated as part of RMIT University. I attended PIT in 1991 and then RMIT University where I completed by doctorate, after having undertaken two years at Brighton Technical College completing two years on the basics of photography, a grounding for many budding photographers in those years under the direction of Peter Barker.
I remember at RMIT fine art photography course we would have reviews of student work every 4 weeks, where over 2 days students put up new work and we all sat together with the lecturers and discussed the ideas contained in the work. The atmosphere was electric, the disparate work, the in-depth conversations, the passion. Look at Greg Neville’s photograph Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh] (c. 1971, below) and you can feel a similar energy…
So Melbourne has been particularly blessed – I dislike that word but there is no other that really conveys what I mean – by this confluence of events, people and places that supported the rigorous investigation of photography and life that Prahran College was a part of. At Prahran there was optimism, social conscience, and an engagement with the street and with life, there was “creative rebellion and intellectual engagement”. I asked James McArdle at an artist’s talk about this: how exciting this would have been, the bouncing of ideas one off another, the sense of community and camaraderie, and yes they were all there … encouraging an “atmosphere” of creativity which has produced a generation of outstanding photographers who will leave a lasting legacy in the history of Australian photography.
As an artist who arrived as a “second generation” photographer after Prahran College I have a great affection for the people and the work produced in the exhibition.
I knew John Cato and his delightful wife Dawn Cato well and went down to their house for afternoon tea to discuss photography and life; together with Bill Heimerman I co-curated his retrospective at The Photographers’ Galley and Workshop in 2002, the text ‘and his forms were without number’ used in the book accompanying the exhibition John Cato Retrospective at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in 2013 where Paul Cox and I made opening speeches. Both were good friends.
Joyce Evans was my substitute mother in Australia. What a wonderful, bohemian, creative, intelligent woman she was. I wrote “Nothing emerges from nothing,” foreword to her book We Had Such High Hopes: Student Activism and the Peace Movement 1949-1952, A Photographic Memoir by Joyce Evans 2019 published before she died, a book that instils the social conscience ethos emerging in postwar Australia which leads into the work of the Prahran College photographers. I still her miss greatly.
As I do both Ian Lobb and Bill Heimerman (pictured below in Peter Leiss’ Untitled [Bill Heimerman (right) and Ian Lobb (left) at the rear of The Photographers’ Gallery] c. 1975-1980), both good friends. Ian Lobb was my first photography lecturer at PIT and became my mentor and friend for over 30 years; Bill gave me three solo exhibitions at The Photographer’s Gallery and Workshop in my early days as an artist, and much excellent advice, for which I am forever grateful.
James McArdle and Gael Newton remain valued friends, both amazing fonts of knowledge in all aspects of photography and photographic research.
In conclusion, congratulations to all who have been involved in bringing this exhibition to fruition: artists, writers and curators. It is a magnificent achievement and a testament to the creativity and passion of the times, both theatre and document reflecting an era that sadly can no longer be repeated.
Prahran College photographers followed their heart and their eye, they possessed a curiosity which “evokes the care one takes for what exists or could exist; an acute sense of the real which, however, never becomes fixed; a readiness to find our surroundings strange and singular; a certain restlessness in ridding ourselves of our familiarities and looking at things otherwise; a passion for seizing what is happening now and what is passing away; a lack of respect for traditional hierarchies of the important and the essential.”6
However long I live, it has always been a privilege to be part of this community, to be part of the Melbourne photographic community.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
1/ James McArdle. “Launched!,” on the On This Date in Photography website, 6th April 2025 [Online] Cited 06/04/2025
2/ Helen Ennis quoted in James McArdle. “Unfixing,” on the On This Date in Photography website, 29th March 2025 [Online] Cited 06/04/2025
3/ Bill Henson opening speech summarised in James McArdle. “Opening!” on the On This Date in Photography website, 1st March, 2025 [Online] Cited 18/04/2025
4/ James McArdle. “Epoch,” on the On This Date in Photography website, 25th April, 2025 [Online] Cited 28/04/2025
5/ “Steve Lojewski [in the year ahead of me at PCAE] and I job shared at Shmith / Cato / Barr. A fantastic opportunity to work mainly in the darkroom, occasionally assisting in the studio and as they gained confidence in me sent out on [mickey mouse] jobs when they were double booked. A HUGE break and when Peter Barr bought out John and Athol and established Peter Barr & Associates he invited me to freelance out of his new studio. That offer would not have happened without the prior experience of the darkroom & studio work. My first job on the Monday morning of my 2 week trial for Athol, John and Peter was 250 prints [on fibre paper] of Malcom Fraser by 11.00 am [ie the wet deadline was 11.00. Dry and out the door was, from memory, 12.noon].”
Julie Millowick in conversation with Marcus Bunyan via Facebook, 20th May 2025
6/ Michel Foucault, “The Masked Philosopher” in Politics, philosophy, culture: interviews and other writings, 1977-1984. London: Routledge, 1988, p. 328
Apologies if a couple of the photographs are slightly out of focus, these were digital RAW files shot on a Sony rx100 handheld at 1000ASA with low depth of field.
For more information please see The Prahran Photography website which upholds the legacy of Prahran College 1970s photography through posts on profiles of the alumni and lecturers (an ongoing project).
“Curiosity is a vice that has been stigmatized in turn by Christianity, by philosophy and even by a certain conception of science. Curiosity, futility. I like the word however. To me it suggests something all together different: it evokes concern; it evokes the care one takes for what exists or could exist; an acute sense of the real which, however, never becomes fixed; a readiness to find our surroundings strange and singular; a certain restlessness in ridding ourselves of our familiarities and looking at things otherwise; a passion for seizing what is happening now and what is passing away; a lack of respect for traditional hierarchies of the important and the essential.”
Michel Foucault, “The Masked Philosopher” in Politics, philosophy, culture: interviews and other writings, 1977-1984. London: Routledge, 1988, p. 328
Gallery One (clockwise)
Installation views of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photos: Marcus Bunyan
In May 1968 the newly formed photography department of Prahran Technical School (known as Prahran College of Advanced Education (PCAE) from 1973) moved into the basement of a freshly completed art and design building on the corner of High Street and Thomas Street in Melbourne’s inner southeastern suburb of Prahran. Here, for the first time in Australia, photography was taught as an artform.
Featuring the work of approximately 60 artists, The basement brings to light rare vintage prints from the 1960s through to the early 1980s, key archival ephemera and folio work – from students and teachers of the College’s Diploma of Art & Design (Photography). It was a period where new discussions developed quickly around the possibilities of what photography could be. These students and teachers were part of a progressive, edgy wave of image-makers excited about the medium’s potential.
Under the vanguard of influential photographers such as John Cato, Paul Cox and Athol Shmith, the school became a breeding ground for some of this country’s most important art photographers: Carol Jerrems, Bill Henson, Nanette Carter, Rod McNicol, Polly Borland, Peter Milne, Robert Ashton, Philip Quirk, Peter Leiss, Jacqueline Mitelman, Mimmo Cozzolino, Graham Howe and Julie Millowick, among many others.
The exhibition’s accompanying publication elucidates the experience from several perspectives. As we hear from the curators, students, colleagues and academics, it’s clear that this course, in this time, was of great consequence to our photographic ecosystem and its development.
Curated by Angela Connor, MAPh Senior Curator, and Stella Loftus-Hills, MAPh Curator, The basement gathers works from close to 60 artists, traversing over 13 years of image-making and adjacent subcultures in music, protest, fashion and art criticism. This landmark exhibition will deliver new research into the canon of Australia’s cultural history through its assembled works and attendant publication.
Text from the Museum of Australian Photography website
Installation view of the reverse of the opening wall of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Moira Joseph (Australian, b. 1955) Jack with a cigarette sitting in the church garden, St Kilda (installation view) 1974 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection Acquired 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Moira Joseph (Australian, b. 1955) Herald boys, Fitzroy Street, St Kilda (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection Acquired 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Moira Joseph is a Melbourne-based professional photographer, filmmaker and teacher. She studied photography at Prahran College from 1974 to 1977. Joseph created the works on display here while she was a student. Armed with her Mamiya 220 medium-format camera, Joesph often walked between the College and her home in St Kilda, affectionately documenting the characters she regularly encountered. Jack with a cigarette sitting in the church garden, St Kilda (1974), for example, shows an elderly gentleman from a nearby men’s refuge sitting alone in Acland Street’s church square. Children regularly feature in Joseph’s student work, and she spent time photographing at luna park, as well as Prahran Primary School.
Moira Joseph (Australian, b. 1955) Three Herald boys, Acland Street, St Kilda (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection Acquired 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Julie Millowick ‘s photographs from clockwise: ANZAC woman alone, draped in leopard skin coat, 1975; Carlisle Street shopping, 1975; Luna Park, St Kilda, 1975; Mother and child from 46 Blanche Street, St Kilda, 1977 from the series Portraits of women Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick studied photography at Prahran College from 1974 to 1976 and gained early experience working in the darkroom of Athol Shmith, John Cato and Peter Bart. She is widely known for her work as a commercial photographer and photojournalist as well as her personal documentary projects.
1975 was Millowick’s second year at Prahran College, and also International Women’s Year, as designated by the United Nations. With the spotlight set firmly on women’s rights, Millowick made an extensive series of photographs entitled Portraits of women, which she continued in subsequent years. This human-centred series with feminist undertones, sympathetically captured women in a variety of locations and depicted moments of motherhood, friendship, loneliness, old-age and youth.
Wall text from the exhibition
Read my review “Down with Earth,” on the exhibition Julie Millowick: Surrounding at the Castlemaine Art Museum, June 2024
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948) Mother and child from 46 Blanche Street, St Kilda 1977 Gelatin silver print 15.9 x 23.7cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Julie Millowick 2024
Wall text from the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, George Volakos’ photograph Vietnam moratorium 1 1970; at top centre, Graham Howe’s photograph Protester, moratorium to end the war in Vietnam 1970 followed by two photographs Moratorium to end the war in Vietnam 1970 (below) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
As a student at Prahran College in the early 1970s, Graham Howe embraced photography’s ability to document social change. For Howe, photography was the perfect medium for observing the world around him and expressing a point of view. This is evident in his images of a Vietnam War moratorium in Melbourne in September 1970. Immersed in a sea of people, placards and peace signs, Howe made a series of tightly framed and often close-up views of the protesters, showing the event from his perspective as an impassioned participant rather than an objective observer. Other Prahran College students, such as Johann Kris and George Volvos, also took photographs at these demonstrations, documenting the intensity of the activist movement
Graham Howe (Australian, b. 1950) Moratorium to end the war in Vietnam (installation view) 1970, printed 2024 Pigment inkjet print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Graham Howe (Australian, b. 1950) Moratorium to end the war in Vietnam (installation view) 1970, printed 2024 Pigment inkjet print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left clockwise, Ken Wright’s Rally for Gough 1975; Andrew Chapman’s Street protest, November 11th 1975; Richard Muggleton’s Untitled (F19 protest) c. 1977; and Andrew Chapman’s Lest we forget 1980 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Ken Wright (Australian/New Zealand, 1948-1998) Rally for Gough (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Private collection Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Chapman (Australian, b. 1954) Lest we forget (installation view) 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Chapman studied photography at Prahran College from 1974 to 1976 and then again in 1980. His Street protest, November 11th (1975) documents a politically motivated rally. It was taken on the corner of Albert Street and moray Street in South Melbourne. Chapman was in his second year at Prahran College and had been listening to parliament on the radio in the office of the then photography technician Murray White. When the news broke of the Whitlam Government’s dismissal, Chapman was quick to join the rallies that broke out in the streets. Later, in 1980, the streets were still politically charged when Chapman returned to Prahran to complete his course. His image, Lest we forget (1980) was made in City Square on Swanston Street at an anti-Fraser demonstration in the lead-up to the 1980 federal election. Described by Julie Millowick as the student who never stopped photographing, even during class, Chapman always has his Leica camera ready. Throughout his career Chapman has photographed much of Australia’s social and political landscape, working both personally and for clients, including as a photojournalist for major Australian newspapers and magazines.
Wall text from the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from top left clockwise photographs by Julie Higginbotham: Greville Street Market, 1975; Catching butterflies, Prahran Park, 1974; and Greville Street, 1976 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Higginbotham practiced a style of unobtrusive street photography in the mid-1970s, making candid expressive images such as ‘Catching butterflies, Prahran Park’ (1974), which records a moment of human interaction with a keen eye for composition and synchronicity. Higginbotham recalls being offered a bohemian, European-inspired style of education at Prahran College while she was there from 1971 to 1974, particularly by Cox whose emphasis on freedom of expression and personal choice resonated. Through her street photography, Higginbotham was interested in recording the cultural changes that were taking place in Melbourne at the time. Living above a shop in the heart of Greville Street in 1975, she was part of a lively hippie community in Prahran. While living conditions were squalid, the cheap rents attracted artists, musicians and alternative thinkers to the area. Greville Street at this time was one of Melbourne’s key counterculture locations, known for live music, organic food and second-hand clothes shops. Higginbotham produced several images that document the vibrancy of this movement, including a series of street photographs she made at the Greville Street Market on Saturday in 1975.
Installation view of the first gallery of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left, Andrew Chapman’s photographs Anti Fraser demonstrator, Collins Street Melbourne 1979; Tribune newspaper seller, Melbourne 1980; Party supporter, Liberal Party campaign launch, Moorabbin Town Hall 1980 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Chapman (Australian, b. 1954) Tribune newspaper seller, Melbourne (installation view) 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Chapman (Australian, b. 1954) Tribune newspaper seller, Melbourne (installation view) 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024
Andrew Chapman (Australian, b. 1954) Party supporter, Liberal Party campaign launch, Moorabbin Town Hall (installation view) 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, George Volakos’ Flinders Street Station 1972; and at right, Graham Howe’s Man on tram, Melbourne 1970 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Rob Gale from his Dogs and their humans (1978) and Swanston Street 5pm (1978) series Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Rob Gale (Australian, b. 1953) Untitled 01 (installation view) 1978 From the series Swanston Street 5pm Pigment ink-jet print, printed 2024 Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Rob Gale studied photography at Prahran Collect from 1976 to 1978. For his series, Swanston Street, 5pm (1978), Gale took inspiration from an iconic painting by the Australian artist John Brack, Collins Street, 5pm (1955). Gale’s photographic exploration of Brack’s stylised view of Melbourne’s office workers was made during peak hour at a busy tram stop near Flinders Street Station. Influenced by American street photographers such as Bruce Golden and Weegee, Gale used a hand-held flash to illuminate his subjects. In a nod to Brack’s painting, this technique allowed Gale to create harsh, stylised views of impatient commuters. The flash also seems to have induced grimaces and sideways stares which, along with the harsh lighting, shadows and unusual camera angles, served to accentuate the strange and surreal atmosphere in the photographs.
Rob Gale (Australian, b. 1953) Untitled 12 1978 From the series Swanston Street 5pm Pigment ink-jet print, printed 2024 Collection of the artist
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs from left clockwise, Steven Lojewsi’s Man with umbrella near curb, Melbourne 1975; Johann Krix’s Proud moment, Moomba c. 1971; and Andrew Wittner’s Where’s my car, Melbourne 1973 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Wittner (Australian, b. 1955) Where’s My Car? 1973, printed 2024 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist
Steven Lojewsi (Australian born England, b. 1952) Man with umbrella near curb, Melbourne (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Steven Lojewski was born in London and grea up in Canada before arriving in Australian in 1969. He studied photography at Prahran College from 1974 to 1976 and later at Sydney College of the Arts. While studying at Prahran, Lojewski made a number of photographs on the streets of Melbourne. Sparsely populated, these early-career vintage prints demonstrate Lojewski’s highly defined, formal approach to documenting the urban landscape and illustrate his ability to produce a subtle range of silvery mid-tones and carefully styled compositions.
Steven Lojewsi (Australian born England, b. 1952) Man with umbrella near curb, Melbourne 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, John Conte’s Telephone, Prahran 1971; at centre top, Philip Quirk’s Lone ranger (Prahran resident with Royal Show souvenirs) 1973; at centre bottom, Philip Quirk’s The headmistress, sports day, Como Park 1975; and at right, Johann Krix’s Toorak Road, South Yarra 1972 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Philip Quirk (Australian, b. 1948) Lone ranger (Prahran resident with Royal Show souvenirs) (installation view) 1973 Gelatin silver print 15.9 x 23.8cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Based in Sydney, Philip Quirk has been a practising documentary photographer since the 1970s. He studied photography at Prahran College from 1971 to 1973 and has frequently used his camera to capture endearing images of humanity. Influenced by international photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Diane Arbus, Quirk’s images feature unusual characters and situations, often incorporating humour and incongruity. His work, Lone ranger (Prahran resident with Royal Show souvenirs) (1973) formed part of his final portfolio assessment at Prahran College. Walking through the streets of Prahran, Quirk stopped to talk to this elderly resident and photographed him in the afternoon sunlight. With its emphasis on light and composition combined with an interest in Australian culture, this photograph is a precursor to the street and social documentary work Quirk produced in the years immediately following his time at Prahran College.
Johann Krix (Australian born Austria, b. 1948) Toorak Road, South Yarra (installation view) 1972 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Robert Ashton’s photographs, Champion Jackpot 1974; Builders Arms Hotel 1974; Family 1974 from the series Fitzroy Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Robert Ashton (Australian, b. 1950) Champion Jackpot (installation view) 1974, printed 2008 Pigment inkjet print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2010 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Robert Ashton studied photography at Prahran college from 1968 to 1970 and first exhibited his work at Brummels Gallery of Photography in 1973. As a student at Prahran, Ashton recalls being taught to follow his heart and his eye in a way that was free of constraints, developing a visual language influenced by the style of European black-and-white photography that he was introduced to by Paul Cox. His early documentary work concentrated on inner-city subjects, and he is widely known for his acclaimed series Fitzroy, which warmly documents the people of Fitzroy, focusing on human life and community connection. This series was originally published as a photobook, Into the hollow mountains a portrait of Fitzroy, in 1974.
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left clockwise, Geoff Strong’s Bald man enjoying the sun, St Kilda 1975; Steven Lojewski’s Man with hat and lighthouse, St Kilda 1975; Glen O’Malley’s St Kilda 1973; and Steven Lojewski’s Man on bench, Stardust St Kilda 1975 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Geoff Strong (Australian, b. 1950) Bald man enjoying the sun, St Kilda 1975 Gelatin silver print 19.1 x 26.3cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025
Geoff Strong moved to Melbourne from Brisbane for the photography course at Prahran College, which he began in 1975 after already having established himself as a political journalist. Strong’s image, Bald man enjoying the sun, St Kilda (1975) showcases his acute interest in the qualities of Melbourne’s sunlight. The human element, a man’s bald head, becomes a formal, compositional device, which appears more like a bronze ball than a human form. Strong’s depiction of harsh light in this sparse composition accentuates the photograph’s formal elements and calls to mind the surreal paintings of Georgio de Chirico.
Text from the Museum of Australian Photography website
Steven Lojewsi (Australian born England, b. 1952) Man with hat and lighthouse, St Kilda (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
James McArdle (Australian, b. 1950) Couple, Luna Park (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
James McArdle (Australian, b. 1950) Conscript, Luna Park (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
James McArdle is a photographic artist, curator, writer and educator based in Castlemaine, Victoria. While studying photography at Prahran College from 1974 to 1976, McArdle took his camera out onto the streets of Melbourne. He made several social documentary images as well as more playful, abstract compositions, which highlight his interest in shadow and form. The vintage silver gelatin prints on display here come mostly from McArdle’s first-and second-year street photography folios. They were made during long walks around St Kilda and Elwood. Conscript, Luna Park (1976) formed part of McArdle’s third-year major project on Luna Park, which included portraits taken in the Penny Arcade. Created using a Linhof 4 x 5 inch press camera and flash, this folio was assessed by Wolfgang Sievers.
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left clockwise, James McArdle’s Hungry puddle, Elwood 1975 and St Kilda Courthouse 1974; Martin Munz’s Man at crossing, Lower Esplanade St Kilda 1979; and Greg Neville’s Man and shadow 1971 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
James McArdle (Australian, b. 1950) Hungry puddle, Elwood 1975 Gelatin silver print 27.0 x 18.5cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by James McArdle in honour of John Cato 2025
Greg Neville (Australian, b. 1950) Man and shadow (installation view) 1971 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Sandra Graham’s photographs Walls 3 (Joseph) and Walls 2 (cloak 1) 1976 from the series Walls (left); and Backstage, Chapel street bridge, Prahran 1976 (right) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Sandra Graham (Australian, b. 1947) Walls 3 (Joseph) (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Formal concerns permeate the street portraits by Sandra Graham who studied photography at Prahran college fromollege from 1974-1975. In her series Walls, Graham relates the human forms of her subjects to the textured walls behind them. For instance, in Walls 3 (Joseph) (1976), the weathered face and stained clothes of a painter are shown in front of a mottled wall that he is about to paint white. Graham blends figure and ground in this image, playing with tonal relationships in black and white. She creates a painterly style of flatness through this series, which was made on streets around St Kilda and Albert Park.
Sandra Graham (Australian, b. 1947) Walls 3 (Joseph) 1976 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist
Gallery two section one (clockwise)
Installation views of the second gallery part A of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Wall text from the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Lyn Cheong (Australian, b. 1954) Self-portrait (installation view) 1977 Self-portrait (installation view) 1977 Dye diffusion transfer prints Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Nicholas Nedelkopoulos (Australian, b. 1955) Shrunken head (installation view) 1978-1991 Dark wedding (installation view) 1978-1990 Chromogenic prints Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 1992 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Nicholas Nedelkopoulos (Australian, b. 1955) Shrunken head (installation view) 1978-1991 Chromogenic print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 1992 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Leonie Reisberg (Australian, b. 1955) Portrait of Peggy Silinski, Merimbula, NSW (installation view) 1974 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Janice Hinderaker through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 2023 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Leonie Reisberg attended Prahran College between 1974 and 1975, where she developed her photographic practice. Her work from this period is often associated with a growing interest in experimental and documentary photography that emerged in Melbourne during the 1970s.
Reisberg’s approach blends real-life moments with a more composed and conceptual style, often exploring themes of intimacy, femininity and social dynamics. She is part of a cohort of photographers that helped shape the trajectory of contemporary Australian photography, particularly within the context feminist and documentary practices.
Leonie Reisberg (Australian, b. 1955) Portrait of Peggy Silinski, Merimbula, NSW 1974 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Janice Hinderaker through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 2023
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at centre, Andrew Chapman’s Self-portrait in bath 1975; and at right, Viki Petherbridge’s Frames 10-18 1975 from the series Frames Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Viki Petherbridge (Australian, b. 1954) Frames 10-18 (installation view) 1975 from the series Frames Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Wall text from the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Peter Milne’s photographs from top clockwise, Rowland S Howard 1977; Polly Borland 1979; and Rowland S Howard, Nick Cave, Ollie Olsen, Megan Bannister, Anita Lane, Bronwyn Adams 1977 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Peter Milne (Australian, b. 1960) Rowland S Howard (installation view) 1977 Pigment inkjet print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Helen Frajman 2023 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Peter Milne began his studies at Prahran College in 1980. Prior to this, he had already begun photographing his friends, family, and the Melbourne punk scene in the mid-to late 1970s. Over the following decades, Milne captured a range of cultural icons, including Nick Cave, Rowland S Howard and Polly Borland. Known for his intimate and warm portraiture, Milne uses dramatic lighting to create strong compositions. His images of Rowland S Howard, in particular, highlight these techniques, with some photographs featuring Howard in striking light or set against brutalist architecture.
Wall text from the exhibition
See the exhibition Juvenilia: Peter Milne at Strange Neighbour, Fitzroy, Melbourne February – March 2015
Peter Milne (Australian, b. 1960) Polly Borland 1979 Pigment ink-jet print 48 x 32cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Helen Frajman 2021
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing portraits by Polly Borland from 1983 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Polly Borland (Australian, b. 1959) Dave (installation view) 1983, printed 2025 Silver dye bleach print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Polly Borland attended Prahran College between 1980 and 1983. Borland shot most of her student work, featured here, on Kodachrome. She shot the works in her Camberwell apartment with direct sunlight pouring through the window. Pieces of carefully placed cellophane on the window created coloured shadows across the subjects’ faces. …
Borland and Cave first began working together in the early 1980s after they met at a party in St Kilda in 1979. The image of Borland at the St Kilda party is documented by fellow friend Peter Milne. Borland’s formative photographs in the early 1980s were part of a new wave of experimental images that departed from renderings of ordinary life.
Wall text from the exhibition
Polly Borland (Australian, b. 1959) Nick (installation view) 1983, printed 2025 Silver dye bleach print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Polly Borland (Australian, b. 1959) Nick 1983, printed 2025 Silver dye bleach print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2025
Polly Borland made this work during her student days at Prahran College where she studied between 1980 and 1983. Borland shot most of her student work on Kodachrome. Shot on Kodachrome, this work forms part of a series of portraits Borland made in her Camberwell apartment with direct sunlight pouring through the window. Pieces of carefully placed cellophane on the window created coloured shadows across the subjects’ faces.
Borland’s images of Nick Cave from the 1980s and 1990s have become legendary. Often described as raw and intense, these images highlight the tension between the public persona of the famous musician and the more vulnerable, human side of the singer and artist. Borland and Cave first began working together in the early 1980s after they met at a party in St Kilda in 1979.
Text from the Museum of Australian Photography website
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from top left clockwise, Christopher Köller’s photographs Past self portrait 1980; Philip and Maria 1981; Joe as a Russian soldier 1980; and Bauhausler (homage to Oscar Schlemmer and August Sander) 1980 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Christopher Köller (Australian born England, b. 1943) Past self-portrait 1980 Gelatin silver print 23.0 x 24.0cm Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2024
Christopher Köller trained as a silk-screen printer before travelling extensively throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. Upon his return to Australia, Köller studied photography at Prahran college fromollege, graduating in 1980. Köller enrolled in Prahran with the intention of doing an expose on the conditions experienced by the miners of Bolivia as he had learnt about their plight while travelling in South America.
In his second year Köller stopped looking at photography books and started poring over the pages of art book, influenced by his now partner and historian Nanette Carter and lecturer Norbert Loeffler. Inspired by these teachings, Köller started to set up his images. His first self-portrait titled Past self portrait (1980) is an image of a young artist arriving at Station Pier, Melbourne with his passport in hand. It was part of a series of self-portraits that were shown at The Photographers’ Gallery and Workshop. Other works in this period were influenced by Russian Constructivism – particularly Vladimir Mayakovsky – and 1930s German avant-garde art. In another image, Köller’s subject, dressed in a shirt and tie, stand in front of an Oskar Schlemmer drawing, made by the artist.
Christopher Köller (Australian born England, b. 1943) Joe as a Russian soldier (installation view) 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Christopher Köller (Australian born England, b. 1943) Joe as a Russian soldier 1980 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2024
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Nanette Carter’s photographs Proof 1979 and Newspaper 1980 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Nanette Carter (Australian, b. 1954) Proof (installation view) 1979 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 1981 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Nanette Carter studied first-year photography at Prahran College in 1974 and then completed a diploma (1977) and post graduate diploma (1980) in fine art at the Phillip Institute of Technology, majoring in photography. Her practice explored feminist issues with autobiographical overtones, and she exhibited her work widely between 1981 and 1995. She ceased practising as a Photographer in the early 1990s to pursue her career as a lecturer in design history.
Carter’s image Proof (1979) is a striking self-portrait that reflects on the concept of identity and addresses the idea of photographic ‘proof’ in a multifaceted way. The word written across her face explores the proof of identity and the assertion of existence that photography claims. Newspaper (1980) utilities her partner Christopher Köller as subject. From early on in their relationship, Carter and Köller used each other as models.
Nanette Carter (Australian, b. 1954) Proof 1979 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 1981
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left clockwise, Rod McNicol’s photographs Nanette 1978; Stewart 1978; and Kent 1978 from the series Permanent mirrors Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Rod McNicol (Australian, b. 1946) Nanette (installation view) 1978 From the series Permanent mirrors Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Rod McNicol (Australian, b. 1946) Nanette 1978 From the series Permanent mirrors Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024
Rod McNicol has been drawn to portraiture ever since he attended Prahran College in 1974. His fellow classmates included Nanette Carter and Bill Henson, and he formed a close connection with Athol Shmith, who would become, in McNicol’s words, ‘a lifelong mentor and friend’. McNicol held his first exhibition and Brummels Gallery of Photography with Carol Jerrems, where he exhibited works from his Permanent mirrors series. This exhibition marked a transition to what McNicol would call his structured approach to portraiture. In the image Nanette, McNicol made a makeshift studio on Paul Cox’s front veranda and placed Carter against a neutral backdrop.
In late 1978, McNicol moved into his warehouse apartment on Smith Street, Fitzroy. Since this move, he has incorporated this space into his work and it has become an important component, both as a location and as an aesthetic context.
Rod McNicol (Australian, b. 1946) Kent (installation view) 1978 From the series Permanent mirrors Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2013 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Rod McNicol’s series of portraits Permanent mirrors grew out of his interest in nineteenth-century photographic portraiture, whereby the slow exposure times necessitated what he calls a ‘gauche, self-conscious, fatalist stare’. For McNicol, these portraits carried the ‘spectre of mortality itself’. The environmental portraits that make up his Permanent mirrors series embody many of the formal attributes of nineteenth-century portraiture that appealed to him, insofar as the sitters are seated in highly static poses, staring directly and blankly at the camera. Soon after, McNicol introduced a range of highly significant formal changes to his portraits, whereby sitters were photographed on a kitchen chair against a plain, neutral background in the artist’s Fitzroy studio. McNicol continues to photograph people from his neighbourhood in this way.
Text from the Museum of Australian Photography website
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left top to bottom, Stella Sallman’s photographs Sue at the mirror 1977; Sue on the bed 1977; Sue and Carmen 1978; Sue, Simon and Carmen 1977; Beautiful transvestite 1975 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Stella Sallman (Australian, b. 1956) Sue and Carmen (installation view) 1978 Chromogenic print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection acquired 2025 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Stella Sallman attended Prahran College from 1976 to 1978. She had originally planned to study fashion design at RMIT, but she was unable pursue the course because she didn’t have a folio. Instead, after completing the preliminary year in Art and Design at Prahran College, she discovered a deep fascination with photography.
Sallman was invited by Rennie Ellis to exhibit her series of glam punks, which she started in her second year, at Brummels Gallery of Photography in 1978, as a support for fellow photographer Jon Rhodes. She said, ‘Rennie came and did some lectures at Prahran. I found him very inspiring because he wasn’t about things looking technically correct.’ He was also brimming with ‘exuberant enthusiastic positive energy.’ The 13 works exhibited at Brummels were portraits of people that Sallman had encountered. Sallman had seen Sue whilst travelling on a train and asked if she could take her portrait. ‘I was very curious about people that didn’t conform.’ In Sallman’s images, she uses colour to emphasise the personality and mood of her subjects, challenging the more traditional, formal portraiture that had prevailed at the time.
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, Carol Jerrems Alphabet folio 1968 dated 1969 Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Letters from the Alphabet folio (installation views) 1968 dated 1969 Gelatin silver print National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased 1971 Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrem’s Alphabet folio is one of her most celebrated and iconic works, and it holds an important place in the history of Australian photography, Created as an assignment during her time as a student at Prahran College, the Alphabet folio consists of 25 letters, with the letter ‘S’ deliberately omitted by Jerrems. The assignment left a lasting impression on Jerrems, as she regularly set this assignment for her own students when she was teaching at the Heidelberg Technical School and the Tasmania School of Art.
Wall text from the exhibition
Carol Jerrems studied at Prahran College between 1967-1969 and graduated in 1970, studying under lecturers McKenzie, Cox, and Lee.
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Carol Jerrems’ No title photographs 1968/1969 Photos: Marcus Bunyan
These photographs of the model Lynn Allen and her then boyfriend are part of a set of assignment images from the late 1960s, when Jerrems was studying at Prahran College. Jerrems and Allen met at High School (Jerrems was one year ahead) and they lived one street apart from each other when these images were taken. Allen modelled for Jerrems for two years.
Wall text from the exhibition
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) No title (installation view) 1969 No title (installation view) 1969 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) No title (installation view) 1969 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Carol Jerrems Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Carol Jerrems’ photographs at left top, Kath Walker 1974; at bottom left, Thancouple (Gloria Fletcher) and Carole Johnson 1974; and at right, Ron Johnson 1974 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Thancouple (Gloria Fletcher) and Carole Johnson (installation view) 1974 Gelatin silver print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Ron Johnson 1974 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 2015 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Carol Jerrem’s photographs at left, Esoteric personal (mini) recent exhibition 1976; at top right, Vale Street 1975; at bottom right, Juliet holding ‘Vale Street’ at Murray Road 1976 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Esoteric personal (mini) recent exhibition (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver prints Private collection Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Vale Street (installation view) 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Susan Hesse 2012 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Vale Street 1975 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Susan Hesse 2012
In 1975, Carol Jerrems made what would become her most famous photograph. Vale Street shows Jerrem’s friend Catriona Brown standing in front of Mark Lean and Jon Bourke, teenage boys from Heidelberg Technical School where Jerrems was teaching at the time. The photograph, taken in the back yard of a house at 52 Vale Street, St Kilda, comes from a series of pictures that show the three subjects socialising, smoking and, under the direction of Jerrems, gradually disrobing. Jerrems carefully set up and managed this no-iconic image, which quickly came to personify the optimism and ambitions of countercultural and feminist politics at the time
Wall text from the exhibition
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Carol Jerrems (left) and Paul Cox (centre) Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing Paul Cox’s photographs with at left, Age of Aquarius (Carol Jerrems, Jan Hurrell) 1970; at centre top, Elizabeth 1 1972; at centre bottom, Fantasy of divine illusion 1972; and at right, Prahran 2 1974 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Paul Cox (Australian born Netherlands, 1940-2016) Age of Aquarius (Carol Jerrems, Jan Hurrell) 1970 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Paul Cox played a pivotal role in the Photography Department at Prharan College, initially appointed part-time in February 1968, he transitioned to full-time position in 1970 and continued teaching photography and filmmaking until his departure in 1982. Younger than colleagues such as Cato and Shmith, Cox’s age helped him forge strong, personal connections with his students. Many alumni attribute their exposure to international photography luminaries to Cox’s influence. However, it was Cox’s own distinctive approach to photography that left a lasting impact on his students. Cox moved to Australia from the Netherlands in 1965 and although he was not formally trained as a teacher, he brought with him a European sensibility.
In 1973, Cox founded The Photographers’ Gallery and Workshop, alongside Ingeborg Tyssen, John F William and Rod McNicol, a groundbreaking space that played a crucial role in establishing photography as a respected art form in Australia and provided a vital platform for contemporary photographers.
Paul Cox (Australian born Netherlands, 1940-2016) Age of Aquarius (Carol Jerrems, Jan Hurrell) 1970 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
Paul Cox (Australian born Netherlands, 1940-2016) Fantasy of divine illusion (installation view) 1972 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Paul Cox (Australian born Netherlands, 1940-2016) Prahran 2 (installation view) 1974 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Wall text from the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation views of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne with artefacts in a vitrine, showing a poster for an exhibition by Tod McNicol and Carol Jerrems at Brummels Gallery of Photography, August – September 1978; two letters from Carol Jerrems including at bottom a letter to William (Bill) Heimerman (1950-2017) co-director at the time of The Photographers’ Gallery and Workshop; and two gelatin silver prints by Carol Jerrems Photos: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at far left a photograph by Paul Cox, at second and third left photographs by Athol Shmith and at centre, photographs by John Cato Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, Paul Cox’s Portrait of Athol Shmith 2 1983; and at right, Athol Shmith’s Anamorphic image No. 17 and Anamorphic image No. 1 both 1973 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Athol Shmith is widely known for his commercial portraiture and fashion photography. His style became emblematic of an era that was transitioning from the more formal rigid photographic style of the early 20th century to something more dramatic. His portraits are highly polished, sophisticated and capture the essence of the post-war era’s glamour.
Shmith’s sale was characterised by a strong focus on lighting and composition, often using dramatic lighting setups to create bold, striking images. As Head of the Photography Department from 1972 to 1979 Art Prahran College, Shmith brought a high level of technical expertise.
Shmith created his Anamorphic series while teaching at Prahran College, and exhibited the series at Realities Gallery in 1973. Student Suzanne Budds recalls being a model for one of the images in this series.
Paul Cox (Australian born Netherlands, 1940-2016) Portrait of Athol Shmith 2 (installation view) 1983 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australia Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 2000 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing from left, John Cato’s photographs Seawind 1871-1975; Tree – a journey 1971-1973; and Tree – a journey #13 1971-1973 from the series Essay I: landscape in a figure 1971-1979 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
John Cato (Australian, 1926-2011) Tree – a journey (installation views) 1971-1973 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the Cato Estate 2021
John Cato (Australian, 1926-2011) Tree – a journey 1971-1973 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the Cato Estate 2021
John Cato began his informal studies in photography with his father, the photographer Jack Cato, in 1938. He worked as a commercial photographer from 1947 to 1974, including a notable stint as a press photographer for The Argus from 1947 to 1950. Over the course of his career, Cato collaborated with Athol Shmith for more than two decades, before shifting away from commercial photography in 1974 to focus on his own fine art practice. That same year, Cato also embarked on his career as a photography educator, taking a teaching position at Prahran College, eventually succeeding Shmith as Head of the Photography Department in 1980.
Cato was known for his mystical and spiritual approach to photography, a philosophy that deeply influenced both his teaching style and his own photographic work. His method was unconventional, emphasising not just technical skill, but the creation of images with a deeper, almost transcendent resonance. Many of Cato’s works are minimalist, capturing quiet, still moments in nature, where form and texture take precedence over literal representation. These images often have an abstract quality, inviting the viewer to engage with the landscape on a more introspective, emotional level. Cato’s photography was not just about capturing a scene, it was about evoking a deeper connection to the transformative power of the natural world.
John Cato (Australian, 1926-2011) Tree – a journey #13 (installation views) 1971-1973 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist Acquired 1981
John Cato (Australian, 1926-2011) Tree – a journey #13 1971-1973 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by the artist Acquired 1981
“Thanks are due to…. Phil Quirk, Peter Leiss, and the now deceased Jon Conte, who started finding alumni (starting with those of 1968-1972) in 2012; Colin Abbott who encouraged Photonet gallery (now MAGNET) in 2014 to put on a show of 1 sample each of student-era and contemporary work of most of the 1974-1976 cohort; Colin has generously part-funded the book that MAPh has produced; designer and archivist Mimmo Cozzolino has contributed beautifully preserved ephemera from his College years, as well as donating his design skills to the ongoing project. Peter Leiss, assisted by Nicholas Nedelkopoulos, produced fine video interviews with alumni… a labour of love!
James McArdle joined the project in 2017. Merle Hathaway, who accepted an invitation to work with the team in 2021, has been an invaluable and key driver of the project in getting this exhibition (and future showings). Merle has secured upcoming shows of contemporary work by 1968-1991 alumni for MAGNET (through May 2025), the BIFB (August 2025) and elsewhere…
Above all, MAPh curators, Angela Connor and Stella-Loftus-Hills, have been extraordinary in their enthusiasm for the concept, and their realisation of it through their expertise and hard work and is beyond our wildest expectations. To have contributing writers of the calibre of Gael Newton, Helen Ennis, Daniel Palmer, Adrian Danks et al. is an honour and a further tribute to MAPh organisation and thoroughness.”
Associate Professor James McArdle
For more information please see The Prahran Photography website which upholds the legacy of Prahran College 1970s photography through posts on profiles of the alumni (an ongoing project). The site was initiated by James McArdle, who graduated in 1977 with a Diploma of Art and Design from Prahran College and Merle Hathaway, who coined the title, and who joins James in writing some of the posts.
Making film
Required to collaborate on a class film or create one of their own, photography students often took on multiple roles in each other’s projects. Paul Cox frequently cast his students as actors in his films, forging relationships that continued long after they graduated from college. In Cox’s productions, students also filled essential technical roles such as stills photographer and cinematographer. As well as developing their skills, this collaborative environment fostered a sense of community among aspiring filmmakers.
Paul Cox is known for his distinctive, often introspective films that explore human relationships, emotions, and existential themes. His work, while not always mainstream, is highly regarded in the Australian film industry and internationally for its emotional depth and unique storytelling style.
Mirka is a short film that features French-Australian visual artist Mirka Mora, a key figure in the Melbourne art scene. Mora gained recognition for her distinctive and colourful works, and her blend of surrealism, fantasy and personal experiences. The film explores her journey as an artist and her personal life, showcasing her experiences and her unique approach to art. The film offers a personal perspective into her world and is a rare glimpse into the life of one of Australia’s most beloved and influential artists.
Mirka was a collaborative project, directed by Paul Cox with the assistance of several Prahran students.
Student life
The students at Prahran College were part of a vibrant and dynamic environment that nurtured creativity, experimentation and community. Many drew inspiration from their immediate circles – friends and acquaintances – for their class assignments. They actively participated in exhibitions, showcasing their work to the public and their peers. Students presented their works in critique sessions that played a vital role in the learning process, providing a forum for discussion, debate and critical feedback.
Assignments often revolved around chosen topics such as fashion, portraiture or family, and sometimes involved field trips out into the landscape or excursions to places like hospitals, factories and the beach. Taking advantage of a ‘free assignment’ in 1976 a group of rebellious students got together to produce images of themselves dressed as revolutionaries, wearing clothes sourced from local opportunity shops and carrying real guns.
The images of students from Prahran College in the 1970s serve as visual documents of the bohemian spirit and encapsulate the idealism of the time. The way students were photographed, often in unposed and relaxed settings, captures the free-spirited nature of the College, with the camera becoming a tool for exploring vulnerability and personal expression, rather than just recording events or situations.
The legacy of the bohemian spirit that was cultivated at Prahran College during the 1970s is still evident in the work of contemporary Australian artists today, many of whom continue to embrace self-expression, individuality and alternative narratives.
Text from the Museum of Australian Photography website
Gallery three
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing at left, Andrew Wittner’s photograph John Cato leading a group on a photographic expedition, Steve Lojewski using a film camera 1975; and at right, George Volakos’ Rye back beach 1 1972 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Andrew Wittner (Australian, b. 1955) John Cato leading a group on a photographic expedition, Steve Lojewski using a film camera (installation view) 1975, printed 2024 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
George Volakos (Australian born Greece, b. 1948) Rye back beach 1 (installation view) 1972, printed 2024 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Richard Muggleton, George Volakos, Colin Abbott, Graham Howe, Philip Quirk, Jim McFarlane, Greg Neville, Andrew Wittner, Peter Bowes, and an unknown photographer Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Philip Quirk, Jim McFarlane, Peter Bowes, and Peter Leiss Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Julie Higginbotham, Andrew Wittner, and Colin Abbott Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Higginbotham (Australian, b. 1953) Mirka film 1973 Pigment ink-jet print Courtesy of the artist
Installation view of the exhibition The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne showing photographs by Philip Quirk, Peter Leiss, and Peter Bowes including at centre left, Peter Leiss’ Untitled [Bill Heimerman (right) and Ian Lobb (left) at the rear of The Photographers’ Gallery] c. 1975-1980 (below); and at centre Peter Leiss’ Jean-Marc Le Pechoux 1976 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Peter Leiss (Australian born England, b. 1951) Untitled [Bill Heimerman and Ian Lobb at the rear of the Photographers’ Gallery] c. 1975-1980 Silver gelatin print
Greg Neville (Australian, b. 1950) Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh] (installation view) c. 1971 Pigment ink-jet print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Greg Neville (Australian, b. 1950) Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh] c. 1971 Pigment ink-jet print Collection of the artist
Unidentified students with lecturers editing 35mm transparencies on a light box.
Summary of Bill Henson’s opening speech for The basement exhibition, 1st March, 2025
Internationally acclaimed photographer Bill Henson delivered a characteristically personal, challenging and reflective speech to mark the opening of The Basement.
He began his address by reminiscing about his time at Prahran in the mid-1970s – a period he remembered as unconventional and formative, despite his own intermittent attendance. “The only catch in my experience there is that I never went,” he quipped to rising laughter from the audience. Henson recalled how his interactions with lecturers such as John Cato and Athol Shmith shaped his artistic philosophy more than technical instruction ever could. “They were setting a moral example, an ethical example, an example of empathy,” he said, emphasising the profound impact their mentorship had on him.
Henson fondly and colourfully described Shmith, a glamorous portraitist who photographed Hollywood stars, and Cato, a figure of quiet wisdom, conjuring their style as an “imperious insouciance” – a blend of grandeur and carefree independence. He emphasised that, unlike today’s art educators who have to navigate academic formalities, these lecturers were practicing artists who brought hard-won experience into the classroom.
“They hadn’t gone through a professional teaching career,” Henson explained. “They weren’t like the kind of lecturer that I seem to see in art schools now, who have to go and get a ‘doctorate of painting’ to keep their job,” but were decidedly “outlandish” and unorthodox.
Their focus was not on rigid curricula but on fostering creativity and curiosity. “They were very generous with their comments,” Henson noted, recalling how they encouraged him to pursue his own path. He would disappear for months at a time, working on his own projects before returning with a bundle of photographs to share with his lecturers; “John would turn around and say, ‘Fuck, we thought you’d left!'” Despite his absences, they were formative in shaping his artistic independence, Shmith advised him to “just piss off and do your own work.”
Henson also shared anecdotes that highlighted the camaraderie and spontaneity of those years. One memorable moment was when Shmith surprised Henson by arranging for his work to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria – a gesture that underscored his pride in his students’ potential. “That was as big a shock for me as anyone else,” Henson admitted.
Henson advised aspiring young artists to “try to be true to yourself, and don’t… stop… working!” Also important was intergenerational dialogue in art; he urged young people to seek wisdom from older artists before their insights are lost. Drawing on his own friendships with figures like Barry Humphries, Leo Schofield and Marc Newson, he highlighted how such exchanges enrich both parties through shared experiences and perspectives.
Beyond personal anecdotes, Henson used his speech to reflect on broader themes in art education and practice. He lamented what he sees as the increasing politicisation of contemporary art, which he believes has shifted focus away from aesthetics toward “box-ticking exercises” driven by ideology. While acknowledging that political movements such as feminism were present among Prahran’s students in the 1970s – “there were the feminists; there were little groups doing their social diligence” – he noted that these stances did not overshadow the college’s overarching emphasis on beauty and creative exploration. “There wasn’t this righteousness, this indignation, this kind of territorial thing about issues,” he said. In contrast was an openness and enthusiasm that defined Prahran during his time there – a place where beauty and creativity were paramount. Quoting Plato, he remarked, “Beauty is the splendour of truth,” positioning this ideal as central to artistic endeavour.
In opening The Basement exhibition Henson’s speech served not only as a tribute to Prahran College’s legacy – the enduring influence of its educators and alumni on Australia’s photographic landscape – but also as a call to preserve the values of curiosity, independence, and beauty in art.
Bill Henson opening speech summarised in James McArdle. “Opening!” on the On This Date in Photography website, 1st March, 2025 [Online] Cited 18/04/2025
Many thankx to James McArdle for allowing me to reproduce this text.
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948) John Cato, PCAE basement, Prahran (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Julie Millowick 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948) John Cato, PCAE basement, Prahran 1976 Gelatin silver print Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Julie Millowick 2024 Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Peter Leiss (Australian born United Kingdom, b. 1951) Robert Besanko and Nanette Carter at The Photographers’ Gallery, Punt Road (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Collection of the artist Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Stella Sallman (Australian, b. 1956) Peter Leiss (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Private collection Photo: Marcus Bunyan
Carol Jerrems (Australian, 1949-1980) Rennie Ellis and Robert Ashton (installation view) 1976 Gelatin silver print Private collection Photo: Marcus Bunyan
In the early 1970s, advertising photographer and photojournalist Rennie Ellis with deputy director Robert Ashton reopened the space as Brummels Gallery of Photography. Assisted with two Arts Council grants, it was non-profit, and the first privately run art gallery in the country to be devoted specifically to photography…
The gallery closed in January 1980, the month before the premature death of its inaugural exhibitor, Carol Jerrems. Having run for eight years, the gallery had advanced the standing of photography as art and the careers of many Australian photographers including Warren Breninger, Godwin Bradbeer, Ponch Hawkes, David Moore, Gerard Groeneveld, Peter Leiss, Steven Lojewski, Rod McNicol, Wesley Stacey, Robert Ashton, Ian Dodd, Sue Ford, George Gittoes, Ashe Venn, John Williams, Jon Rhodes, Geoff Strong, Jean-Marc Le Pechoux and Henry Talbot.
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![Heinrich Riebesehl (German, 1938-2010) 'Menschen Im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969' [People in the Elevator, 20.11.1969] 1969 from the exhibition 'Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany' at Fondazione Prada, Milan, April - July, 2025](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2-typologien_heinrich-riebesehl_siae_sm.jpg "Heinrich Riebesehl (German, 1938-2010) 'Menschen Im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969' [People in the Elevator, 20.11.1969] 1969 from the exhibition 'Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany' at Fondazione Prada, Milan, April - July, 2025")
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![Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865-1932) 'Adiantum pedatum, haarfarn, junge, noch eingerollte Wedel' [Maidenhair fern, young, still curled fronds] Nd](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/5-typologien_karl-blossfeldt_sm.jpg "Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865-1932) 'Adiantum pedatum, haarfarn, junge, noch eingerollte Wedel' [Maidenhair fern, young, still curled fronds] Nd")
![August Sander (German, 1876-1964) 'Sekretärin beim Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln' [Secretary at West German Radio in Cologne] 1931-1950s](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/6-typologien_august-sander_siae_sm.jpg "August Sander (German, 1876-1964) 'Sekretärin beim Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln' [Secretary at West German Radio in Cologne] 1931-1950s")
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![Lotte Jacobi (American born Poland, 1896-1990) 'Folkwang-Auriga-Verlag, Orch 152. Neottia nidus avis. Vogel-Nestwurz, einzelne Blüte' [Bird's-nest orchid, single flower] c. 1930](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/4-typologien_lotte-jacobi_sm.jpg "Lotte Jacobi (American born Poland, 1896-1990) 'Folkwang-Auriga-Verlag, Orch 152. Neottia nidus avis. Vogel-Nestwurz, einzelne Blüte' [Bird's-nest orchid, single flower] c. 1930")
![David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Mr Finlay, deerstalker in the employ of Campbell of Islay [b]' 1843-1847](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hill-and-adamson-mr-finlay-deerstalker-in-the-employ-of-campbell-of-islay-b.jpg "David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Mr Finlay, deerstalker in the employ of Campbell of Islay [b]' 1843-1847")
![David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Lady Mary Hamilton (Campbell) Ruthven, 1789 - 1885. Wife of James, Lord Ruthven [a]' 1843-1847](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hill-and-adamson-lady-mary-hamilton-campbell-ruthven-1789-1885.-wife-of-james-lord-ruthven-a.jpg "David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Lady Mary Hamilton (Campbell) Ruthven, 1789 - 1885. Wife of James, Lord Ruthven [a]' 1843-1847")
![David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Jimmy Miller. Son of Professor James Miller [c]' 1843-1847](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/hill-and-adamson-jimmy-miller.-son-of-professor-james-miller-c.jpg "David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson. 'Jimmy Miller. Son of Professor James Miller [c]' 1843-1847")
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'Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh]' c. 1971 (installation view)](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/vb.jpg "Greg Neville (Australian, b. 1950) 'Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh]' c. 1971 (installation view)")
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'Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh]' c. 1971](https://artblart.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/greg-neville-tutorial.jpg "Greg Neville (Australian, b. 1950) 'Tutorial: lecturers and students [back row L–R Derrick Lee, Bryan Gracey, Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, Elizabeth Tainsh]' c. 1971")
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