Max Dupain – Iconic Australian Photographer

I first became aware of the Australian Photographer Max Dupain when I wrote the post about Olive Cotton, who was also a photographer (click here to revisit that article).

They were great friends having both been given cameras as gifts as children, and they spent many hours together capturing the beach scenes of Sydney, Australia in the 1920’s and 30’s.

Olive worked for Max in his photographic studio which he opened in 1934, and in fact, kept the studio functioning when Max went off to serve in World War 2. He was based in Royal Australian Air Force in both Darwin and Papua New Guinea helping to create camouflage. ¹

The war affected Dupain and his photography, by creating in him a greater awareness of truth in documentary. He wanted to create truthful photographs that made people think, "capturing a moment of everyday interaction [rather than] attempting any social comment". ¹

Max and Olive married in 1939, but the marriage only lasted a year. They went their separate ways, Olive to marry a famer and live in the bush, and Max to marry Diana Illingworth with whom he had a daughter, Danina, and a son Rex, who also became a photographer.

Wikipedia contains a good summary of Max’s life, his photography and later development into advertising and architectural photography:

Max Dupain was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours list and a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the Australia Day Honours 1992 for his services to photography. He continued working right up until his death on 27th of July 1992.

Max was a devoted and prolific worker, always searching for the perfect image. The State Library holds a huge collection of Max Dupain’s photography covering over 28,000 negatives, including his most well-known piece, The Sunbaker (1939).

You might like to watch the following 5 minute video which shows this photograph and describes why it defined his career and the Australian identity:

There is also a Max Dupain website, and you might like to browse through some more of his wonderful bank of work, divided into categories:

There is something very powerful about black and white photography, don’t you think? Can you pick a favourite?

Max Dupain – Iconic Australian Photographer

Julie

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