Exhibition: ‘Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s – 1970s’ at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Exhibition dates: 28th May – 1st August 2010

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There are some great photographs below, including one of my favourite photographs by an Australian artist of all time – ‘At Newport’ (1952) by Max Dupain. There is something about this photograph that makes it even more iconic than ‘Sunbaker’ (1934). Perhaps it is the modernist rendering of space, the tensional placement of the figures: the curve of the boys back, the slope of the young man’s torso and attendant shadow on the wall, the girl at bottom right caught looking at the poised figure about to dive in – coupled with the receding pylons floating into the distance and the dark cliff face at right.

To have the previsualisation in the mind’s eye, that understanding of what was about to happen placed before the camera and then to capture it takes a truly great photographer. Being a naturalised Australian this is, to me, is one of the most iconic of all Australian photographs. What a beautiful photograph.

Many thankx to Miranda Young and the Art Gallery of South Australia for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

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Robert McFarlane
Australia, born 1942
Charles Perkins going home from University
c.1963, Sydney
pigment print on paper 
23.0 x 15.0 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Robert McFarlane, Courtesy of Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney

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Rennie Ellis
Australia, 1940 – 2003
Auntie Mame, Kings Cross
1970 – 71, Sydney
gelatin silver photograph 
37.0 x 24.0 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

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Jeff Carter
Australia, born 1928
Tobacco Road
1956, Ovens Valley, Victoria
gelatin silver photograph 
28.8 x 27.1 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2003
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Jeff Carter

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“Candid moments of Australian life from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, captured by some of Australia’s most renowned photographers, go on display in Candid Camera – a fascinating new photographic exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Curated by Julie Robinson, the Art Gallery’s Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs, Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s – 1970s includes more than 80 documentary images by photographers including Max Dupain, David Moore, Jeff Carter, Robert McFarlane, Mervyn Bishop, Rennie Ellis, Carol Jerrems and Roger Scott.

These photographers have been great observers, capturing memorable images in Australia and abroad of people at leisure or engaged in everyday activities – images which appear unposed, spontaneous, or with their subjects captured unaware.

The photographs on display encompass social rituals, beach culture, protest movements, Indigenous issues, migration, youth subcultures, work, leisure, music, people, travel and humour. They range from images of the famous – such as Prime Ministers, boxing champion Lionel Rose, musicians Bon Scott and Daddy Cool – to those of ordinary people.

Says Julie Robinson, “The photographs in Candid Camera epitomise life during the 50s, 60s and 70s and resonate with spontaneity, humour and humanity.”

Robinson explains, “Even the anonymous people seem familiar to us as a result of these photographs, like David Moore’s European migrants arriving in Sydney, Rennie Ellis’s Cosmetics salesgirl, Toorak Rd, the two youths exiting ghost train ride in Roger Scott’s photograph or the unidentified women waiting at an Adelaide bus stop, in Robert McFarlane’s photograph.”

Many of these photographs have only been recently acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia and this exhibition will provide the first opportunity for audiences to view them displayed together.”

Press release from the Art Gallery of South Australia website

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Jeff Carter
Australia, born 1928
Saturday arvo, Chippendale
1960, Chippendale, New South Wales
gelatin silver photograph 
30.5 x 36.1 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2003
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Jeff Carter

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Max Dupain
Australia, 1911 – 1992
At Newport
1952, Sydney
gelatin silver photograph
31.5 x 34.0 cm (image)
d’Auvergne Boxall Bequest Fund 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

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Rennie Ellis
Australia, 1940 – 2003
Cosmetics salesgirl, Toorak Road
c.1970, Melbourne
gelatin silver photograph 
29.0 x 43.5 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

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Rennie Ellis
Australia, 1940 – 2003
Union Jack, Lorne
c.1968, Victoria
gelatin silver photograph 
29.4 x 44.0 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive

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Roger Scott
Australia, born 1944
Ghost train
1972, Sydney
gelatin silver photograph 
27.0 x 40.0 cm (image)
South Australian Government Grant 2009
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
© Roger Scott, Courtesy of Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney

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Art Gallery of South Australia
North Terrace
Adelaide SA 5000
T: 61 8 8207 7000

Open daily 10am to 5pm

Art Gallery of South Australia website