Max Dupian was born in Ashfield Sydney in 1911, he lived there all of his life, photographing the city from the late 1930’s through to just before his death in 1992. Dupian photographed the architecture, the landscape, the beaches and the cities of Australia. For many Australians, Dupains photographs define our beach culture, and it was the beach that was the inspiration for his most famous and enduring images including The Sunbaker, At Newport and Bondi all capture a moment in time. His 1937 photograph the Sunbaker is arguably his most famous work. For many, it is an iconic image of what it means to be Australian. It was not just Sydney and the beach that captured Dupain’s photographic eye. Throughout his life as a photographer Dupain took …show more content…
In 1930 after meeting pictorial photography legend Harold Cazneaux he commenced a three year apprenticeship with Sydney photographer Cecil Bostock. During his apprenticeship Dupian learnt the skills of rigours attention to detail and the techniques of early studio photography. He also studied at the Julian Ashton’s Art School during this time. Dupain continued to take photographs until a few months before his death in July, 1992 and the age of 81. His philosophy could be summed up in two words, simplicity and directness. Colour photography was first used in 1861 but Dupain continued to use black and white photography as he believed colour was restricting in its objectivity and that nothing was left for individual interpretation. Dupain is regarded as one of Australia’s greatest photographers. He stressed simplicity and directness in his work, creating images of sharp focus, boldness and graphic composition. This was in reflection of the skills and techniques he mastered during his early life as a photographer. He was one of the earliest and most outstanding champions of modernism being inspired by photography that was directly in the soul of the …show more content…
The man captured in the photograph was Dupain’s friend Harold Salvage. When asked by Helen Ennis in 1991 for an explanation of the frame of the Sunbaker , Dupain responded: I’m a bit worried about it. I think it’s taken on too much…..It was a simple affair. We were camping down the south coast and one of my friends leapt out of the surf and slammed down on the beach….. We have made the image and it’s been around, I suppose, as a sort of icon of the Australian way of life. Dupain’s simple view on the piece resinates throughout other photographs he took preferring to work with people he had an affinity with including William Dobell and Jean Bellette. It is Dupains simplicity in the Sunbaker that has captured generations of Australians and international attention giving the photo the reputation for representing Australia and Australians life style. The subject Harold, however, is not Australian born but rather a British builder and while most people think the image is taken on Bondi beach it was actually shot on the south coast. Jill White was Dupains assistant for more than 40 years and she said “He was very much an outdoor person with a healthy lifestyle. So it’s no surprise his photography captured the Australian imagination, with our great love of
‘Triptych: Requiem, Of Grandeur, Empire’ by the contemporary artist, Gordon Bennett in 1989 is a series of three artworks that depict the Australian landscape through stylised means in combination with appropriated and geometrical imagery. Through this series, Bennett effectively showcases the impact Western European culture had upon Indigenous lives and cultures post colonisation and how it has led to the destruction of Aboriginal culture as a whole. This is portrayed through the excellent utilisation of appropriated imagery, diverse art styles, and visual metaphors within his work.
Upon returning to his studio Storrier picks a photograph that can be associated in a variety of ways. He makes works similar in subject matter, but which give different overall impressions. 'I never work from photographic documents. The little polaroids are just mental records. I paint pictures about, not from, photographs.' He explores the concept, and makes preliminary sketches and small studies of his ideas to decide the colour and tone. He chooses the size to make his artwork oncer he has his idea.
Jedda, Australia’s first colour film, created in 1955 by Charles Chauvel deals with an Aboriginal child adopted by a white grazing family. As she grows up, Jedda is tempted more and more to return to her people. Seduced by the wild Marbuck, she partakes in the film's tragedy, played out against a spectacular landscape. This essay seeks to discuss the representations of the Australian landscape as portrayed in the film Jedda, highlighting the use of filmic techniques in these representations.
Indigenous Australian artist Gordon Bennett re-contextualises the work of Colin McCahon by borrowing and transforming key visual features. Bennett’s work challenges the viewer and gives them an alternative perspective of the culture and identity of Indigenous Australians. The quote by The National Gallery of Victoria states, “Often describing his own practice of borrowing images as ‘quoting’, Bennett re-contextualises existing images to challenge the viewer to question and see alternative perspectives.” This quote is clear through analyzing the visual features as well as the meaning behind the work of Gordon Bennett’s appropriated artwork ‘Self-portrait (but I always wanted to be one of the good guys)’ (1990) and comparing it to Colin McCahon’s
The National Picture gives a completely different idea to the original, now showing instead of the Indigenous Australians being a more prominent culture and population in Australia, it instead shows a more mixed culture but a majority of white Europeans, which is true in the time of the painting, being in the 1980’s. This shows the journey of diversity in Australia, for better or for worse is debatable as to get to where we are now took a long and unfortunate process for the Aboriginal culture which was mostly lost due to the many deaths caused due to many political
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
The biographic of Paddy Bedford in its simplest description, is an internationally successful Aboriginal artist living in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. This might not sound like a person of iconic significant, but in this essay it propose that Paddy as one of the most celebrated contemporary artist in the history of Aboriginal art. It will critically examine Paddy’s achievements with reference to Jirrawun Aboriginal Art Corporation in the East Kimberly. But mostly discuss Paddy’s position in the public sphere of affecting the Aboriginal arts and culture community and will talk about aboriginal social change at play in Australian society today. In addition, the essay also interrogates the issue of social injustice and equal rights with cause of preserving Aboriginal tradition. Most importantly, it will indicate my deep understanding about what it means to be Australian from investigating Paddy Bedford life, as well as, the historical events surrounding the East Kimberly.
But familiar landmarks and also the unfamiliar ones aren't the whole make-up of Australia's heritage. It's the people that make a difference. Australia is made up of people from all walks of life who have migrated here for different reasons. Among these, the most common migrants are from Greece, Italy, Russia and Asia. Australia is made up of material culture: the places and objects, but also Living culture: In forms such as Music, Crafts, Literature etc. It is an interplay between international cultures and beliefs, the claims of nationalism and ethnic and religious traditions, as well as the local and community priorities that’s make up the unique Australian heritage.
Unlike Gordon Bennett, who grew up struggling from his Aboriginal heritage, Tony Albert, a founding member of Queensland's Indigenous art collective proppaNOW explores political, social and cultural issues that are relevant to Indigenous Australian in today’s society. Albert’s artistic practice has a range of media and applications producing 2D wall art, sculpture and installation based works. According to Albert, he began to see the ‘problematic representations of his identity’ (Art Monthly Australia, 2015, p.55) after discovering the work of contemporary Aboriginal artists Tracey Moffat and Gordon
Peanut butter and jelly, a common combination of two separate entities, most people have heard of this duo, many enjoy it, but only one manufacturer packaged them together in a handy snack. Much like the tasty treat that is Goobers is the tasty duo of Adam Fuss and Roland Barthes. Two separate men, Adam Fuss and Roland Barthes put together in one reading, complementing and accentuating each other. Fuss and Barthes, they share an interest in photography, they share an interest in the foundation and principles of photography, more over they share an interest in photography that is deeply personal. Fuss takes the camera out of photography. Barthes takes photography out of art. Both men want to get to the essence of what a photograph is, one by thinking and writing about it and one by doing it. In this paper I will show how Adam Fuss’ work matches up with and demonstrates the ideas of Barthes’ in Camera Lucida. I will look at one body of work at a time and show which parts of Barthes’ ideas are present in the work, in its creation and its theory. I will start with his first professional body of work, move through to his most recent work and then look back to some of his childhood pictures. Whether Barthes' ideas actually influenced Fuss’ work I am not sure of, I have not found any text or interview that leads me to believe that it is, however I would not be surprised if it has.
Edward Burtynsky is landscape photographer who focuses on finding unique locations that are barren with environmental degradation. He is concerned with the current state of our world and wants to change it by using photography as a medium. Burtynsky 's photolistic style often shows incredible scale and detail within his photos by using multiple vantage points. Burtynsky approaches his subject in a very urgent manner, each and every photo is taken to create a deep impression from its viewer. His work is housed in more than 50 museums including the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
With the portrait, Durer's highly self-conscious approach to his status as an artist coveys his exalted mission of art more clearly than in any other painting. He seems to be "less concerned with himself as a person than with himself as an artist, and less with the artist than with the origin and exalted mission of art itself." (Strieder 13).
Rosie Gascoigne, is an artist who has aspired an appreciation for undiserable remnants and utilised with them in purpose to produce an assemblage of work that sees into a reflection of the past and present landscape of Australian society. Her growing motivation has taken further interest and development as the founding layers of her work through her deliberate perception, subject to the preservation of the environment and surrounding landscape. Gascoigne’s work offers an insight into deep country outback life of an Australian individual and introduces conceptualities that mirror a focus situated about ‘re-using’, ‘ recycling’ and understanding the insightful meaning present within everyday remnants. Her work is a collective gathering of selected materials to form a composition or an
The Australia Outback is portrayed in films as vast and red. Of Course Australia is not completely this description. In the film, Crocodile Dundee, Sue Charlton (heroine character) is a New York journalist visiting Sydney. The Irony is the complete contrast between the desert landscape, shown as a bird’s eye view in the helicopter (Scene 2 Crocodile Dundee). In Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the imagery of a “never-ending” road reaffirms the idea that Australia is an isolated place. Similarly to Crocodile Dundee, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert exposition began in Sydney. The main difference between the films the ‘outback’ where both film plo...
Watson, I 2002, Looking at you looking at me: Aboriginal culture and the history of the South-east of South Australia, vol. 1, Nairne, South Australia.