Max Dupain - Modernist | State Library of New South Wales

Max Dupain — Modernist

In the 1930s Australia was experiencing the impact of ‘modern’ technology and ideas from Europe and America — ‘the shock of the new’, to quote Robert Hughes. As a young man with an enquiring mind and a keen interest in photography and the arts, Max Dupain read widely and absorbed these new ideas with great enthusiasm.

This exhibition celebrates the modernist idiom as well as Dupain's photographs of Australian modernist architecture. Dupain's own words are used to commentate throughout the exhibition and, where possible, comments by architects provide an alternative view on Dupain's photography.

Ultimately, the exhibition bears out the argument that architectural photography is a form of architectural propaganda — and when photography is used in the modernist stylistic sense, the building is captured for posterity as a sculptural form rather than a built structure for human interaction.

Open: 9 June 2007 – 28 October 2007
Mitchell Galleries
State Library opening hours
Admission: Free

Photographs and digital prints of all the images in this exhibition can be ordered from The Library Shop

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