Definitive Dupain is a major monograph on Max Dupain, drawn from his negative archive at the State Library of New South Wales and published alongside the Library's retrospective of the same name.
About This Book
Max Dupain (1911–1992) photographed Australia for more than six decades, and the complete negative archive he left—around 250,000 images—is now held by the State Library of New South Wales. This book selects roughly 150 photographs from that archive, running from his earliest work in the 1920s through to the 1990s. Famous images such as Sunbaker sit beside pictures that have rarely or never been seen: studio portraits, commercial commissions, architectural studies and private photographs.
What emerges is a photographer whose real subject was the country itself—its people, landscapes, cities and buildings, and even its manufactured goods. Essays by Avryl Whitnall, Helen Ennis and Trent Parke read that output against international photography while drawing out its particular feel for Australian light and modern life. For readers of architecture and design, the architectural work is a highlight, and a record of how modern Australia was first pictured.
Key Features
- Around 150 photographs selected from the roughly 250,000 negatives in Dupain's archive at the State Library of New South Wales
- Spans his whole career, from the 1920s to the 1990s
- Celebrated images including Sunbaker alongside previously unseen work
- Essays by Avryl Whitnall, Helen Ennis and Trent Parke
- Companion to the State Library's major retrospective Definitive Dupain
What You'll Discover
- The full range of Dupain's practice—portraiture, advertising, architecture, landscape and personal work—well beyond his best-known pictures
- How his photographs of buildings and cities recorded the arrival of modern Australia
- Where Dupain sits within international photography, and what made his way of seeing distinctly Australian
- How commercial briefs, from kitchenware to toothpaste, became part of a wider visual record of Australian culture
About the Author
The book is produced with the State Library of New South Wales, custodian of Dupain's negative archive. Lead essayist Avryl Whitnall is a senior creative producer in the Library's exhibitions and design team and curator of the Definitive Dupain exhibition. She has curated more than 15 exhibitions for the Library, including an earlier exploration of Dupain's architectural photography, Max Dupain: Modernist. The book also carries essays by Helen Ennis and Trent Parke.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 242 × 292 mm
- Pages: 256
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781760765996
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Perfect For: Photography collectors, students of Australian visual culture, and architects and designers interested in how modern Australia was captured on film.