Max Dupain: Student Life

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A new Chau Chak Wing Museum exhibition of work by Max Dupain, one of Australia’s best-known modernist photographers, documents the nation at a crossroads.   

 The photographs in Max Dupain: Student Life were taken at the University of Sydney in the early 1950s, a period of rapid change marked by the politics of the Cold War. Initially, Dupain’s love of architecture drew him to the campus, where he photographed modernist buildings such as the Fisher Library designed by Ken Woolley and Tom O’Mahoney. He grew to love the campus and went on to capture student life. The works in Student Life range from shots of formal dances to fiery protests opposing both communism and the McCarthy-era communist witch-hunt underway in the United States.  

 “These were boom years for the university, and Dupain’s candid studies reveal an increasingly diverse student body, following the post-war influx of refugees, women, and Indian and Asian students, some on the ‘Colombo Plan’ sponsoring Asian students to study in Australia,” said Ann Stephen, Senior Curator of the University Art Collection at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.  

 “Dupain’s Sydney University album includes modernist aerial views of interiors, such as the Great Hall and the Union’s Holme Building, along with more informal shots from ‘Freshers’ week. There was a degree of formality, with young women dressed in skirts and heels, and the young men in suits and ties.” 

The infamous Petrov Affair of 1954 is among the events highlighted. A float in the University’s annual ‘Commem Day’ parade reenacts the dramatic moment when Evokia Petrov, a Soviet spy in Canberra under the guise of a diplomat who defected to Australia after Josef Stalin’s death, was escorted onto a plane by KGB men. Early anti-nuclear protests are also depicted on a float opposing University of Sydney Professor Harry Messel’s controversial University Nuclear Research Foundation.  

 The first public exhibition of Dupain’s work in recent times, Student Life can be seen through his modernist lens, with several of the images adopting aerial perspectives emphasising geometric forms.  

 The exhibited prints are digital reproductions of vintage silver gelatin photographs from Sydney University album. They were donated to the University by Diana Dupain under the Federal Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 1996 and are now part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection. 

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September

Canberra: This collection-in-focus display highlights William Yang’s photography of Sydney Mardi Gras festivals between 1981 and 2003.

Melbourne: The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize 2024 features more than 70 images including digital and analogue photography, large-scale installations and daguerreotypes.

October

Brisbane: Mikaela spent time looking through Graham’s archive of negatives, though it was his social documentary images that she constantly returned to, especially as there were so many compelling photographs that had never been printed.

Brisbane: Until 13 July 2025. Amateur Brisbane photographer Alfred Henrie Elliott (1870-1954) extraordinary images lay dormant for decades until they were discovered only recently. This exhibition is curated by seven Brisbane photographers.

November

Sydney: Chrissie Hall specialises in advertising, fashion, portraiture and social documentary. Join Chrissie for her 2nd book launch and exhibition at Lunar Studios in Alexandria on Thursday, November 14th from 6:30-8:30 pm.

Sydney: 23–25 November. Three Edge Studio is very proud to present 21 outstanding emerging and experienced Australian photographers at the M2 Gallery in Surry Hills.

Perth: Until 18 May 2025. Henry Roy – Impossible Island draws on 40-years of recollections and observations as it brings together 113 photos taken from 1983 to 2023.

Brisbane: The Photo Fair #2 is a community event to sell, swap, and showcase photographic works on November 30 and December 1, 2024. 10am - 4pm