Australian Modern by Max Dupain

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Max Dupain is regarded as one of Australia’s most respected and influential black-and-white photographers. 

Max Dupain, Morning rush hour, Sydney Harbour Bridge 1938, black and white silver gelatin photograph. Printed by Jill White.
Max Dupain, Morning rush hour, Sydney Harbour Bridge 1938, black and white silver gelatin photograph.
Printed by Jill White.

Dupain pioneered a Modernist approach of high contrast, sharp focus, dramatic angles, and creative compositions, departing sharply from the sentimentality of soft focused and nostalgic post-colonialism.

This collection of over 60 original photographs hand printed by Jill White, records a bygone era of Australian society from the 1930s to 1980s. Amongst them are some of Australia’s most iconic images of beach culture, landscape, fashion, and the grand vistas and quiet moments of city life including the construction of the Sydney Opera House and powerful images of the new Sydney Harbour Bridge. Dupain’s work is an inspiration to any aspiring photographer or voyeur of culture.

Max Dupain, Sydney Opera House under construction (man with wire) 1962, black and white silver gelatin photograph. Printed by Jill White.
Max Dupain, Sydney Opera House under construction (man with wire) 1962,
black and white silver gelatin photograph. Printed by Jill White.

This project has been assisted by Jill White.

Jill White began her career as a photographer in the 1970s when she worked as a studio photographer, and manager, of the Max Dupain studio. This role continued until around the time of Dupain’s death in 1992 and  the Dupain Exhibition Negative Archive was bequeathed to Jill White with instructions to print, exhibit, publish, and sell his images.

Max Dupain, Bondi Beach Symmetry c1940s, black and white silver gelatin photograph. Printed by Jill White.
Max Dupain, Bondi Beach Symmetry c1940s, black and white silver gelatin photograph. Printed by Jill White.

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

November

Sydney: The exhibition delves into the State Library of NSW's vast collection of two million images, showcasing 400 photos – many displayed for the first time.

February

Melbourne: Jill Orr’s The Promised Land Refigured is an exhibition that reworks the original project created in 2012 with new insights that have emerged in the past eleven years.

March

Melbourne: Environmental Futures features five artists whose work addresses how the natural world is affected by climate change and encompasses photography, sculpture and installation both within the gallery spaces and around the museum grounds.

Ballarat: Nan Goldin is an American artist whose work explores subcultures, moments of intimacy, the impacts of the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics on her communities, and photography as a tool for social activism.

Sydney: The Ocean Photographer of the Year Award, run by London based Oceanographic Magazine is in its 4th year and has quickly achieved recognition amongst photographers around the world.

Albury: The National Photography Prize offers a $30,000 acquisitive prize, the $5000 John and Margaret Baker Fellowship for an emerging practitioner, and further supports a number of artists through focused acquisitions.

April

Sydney: Photographers Harold David, Lyndal Irons, Ladstreet, Selina Ou, David Porter, Greg Semu, and Craig Walsh exhibit a diverse and varied snapshot of Penrith and western Sydney as it has changed and grown over the last sixty years.

The City Surveyor’s ‘Condemnation and Demolition Books’ is a key photographic collection held in the City Archives comprising almost 5000 photographs and associated glass plate negatives.

May

Ballarat: Art Gallery of Ballarat presents Lost in Palm Springs, a multidisciplinary exhibition that brings together fourteen creative minds who respond to, capture, or re-imagine the magical qualities of the landscape and the celebrated mid-century modern architecture of Palm Springs, California and across Australia.