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LEGACY. Your collection. Our story.
MGA: the Australian home of photography
Entrance
And in the Beginning
The exhibition opens with the first work officially gifted to the collection when MGA opened its doors in the new building in 1990: a tapestry by Josef Albers, donated by MGA’s original architect, Harry Seidler. The story goes that Seidler wanted to nail it to the entry foyer wall so it could never be removed, and in the only purpose-built gallery Seidler ever designed, this would have been a constant presence of a modernist masterpiece in honour of one of Australia's leading exponents of Modernism and the Bauhaus.
This entrance echoes the original entry (now the meeting room and Wilbow Gallery). In the early 2000s MGA underwent a redevelopment that involved expanding the building to incorporate a café and library, thus re-orientating the entrance away from the snorkel design and creating a spine that connects the visual arts with literary.
The rich purple, blue and gold splash of colour echoes the pattern of the Albers tapestry while hinting at the explosion of photography beyond.
Hero Men
A number of donors have contributed to the collection of 'hero men' photographers who emerged as leaders in Australia from the 1930s to 1970s. The strong selection of works from seminal Australian photographers such as Dupain, Moore and Sievers, are exemplar of the impact of individual donors on developing MGA's collection. When seen united as part of a public collection these works enter into conversation - something many of these artists did with each other throughout their careers.
Josef ALBERS
4 carres, bleu gris ochre jaune 1968
tapestry
170.00 x 170.00 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by Harry Seidler 1990
MGA 2002.28
© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/VG Bild-Kunst. Copyright Agency, 2018
While it is an unusual addition to a collection solely dedicated to Australian photography, this tapestry was the first work officially gifted to the collection when MGA opened its doors in 1990 - a unique gift from MGA’s original architect, Harry Seidler.
Albers was a central figure in twentieth-century art and a master of the Bauhaus. He is well-known for designing works that incorporated squares within squares which originated from his Homage to the Square painting series (c.1951). He explored this type of composition across many mediums, including paintings, tapestries, drawings, prints and furniture, but it wasn’t until after Albers' death that his experimentation with photography was discovered. This included photocollages featuring photographs he made at the Bauhaus between 1928 and 1932. These were the subject of exhibitions at MoMA in 1988 for The Photographs of Josef Albers and in 2017 for One and One Is Four: The Bauhaus Photocollages of Josef Albers. (The Museum of Modern Art, USA)
Adam KNOTT
Max Dupain 1992-93
gelatin silver print
26.0 x 39.2 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Richard King in memory of Murray Stewart Smith 2008
courtesy of the artist
MGA 2008.288
David MOORE
David Moore (1927-2003) began his professional life in the late 1940s working in photography studios in Sydney. During the 1950s, Moore was based in London and established a profile working as a photojournalist on assignments for international picture magazines such as Time and Life. In a career that spanned 60 years, Moore mainly worked as a photojournalist while pursuing a range of personal projects that highlighted his individual interests and distinctive aesthetic. Moore based the last thirty years of his life in Sydney, often documenting distinctively Australian subjects and promoting photography as an art form.
Harry Seidler, Killara, Sydney 2004
gelatin silver print
27.0 x 42.0 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by Gordon Darling AC CMG through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2004
MGA 2004.45
courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore
Max DUPAIN
Max Dupain (1911-1992) began his photographic career in 1930 as an apprentice in the studio of Cecil Bostock. He established his own studio in Sydney in 1934 and continued to produce a broad range of commercial work over the course of his life. Dupain is renowned for his architectural photography and iconic images of Australian beach culture. His experiments with photomontage and photograms during the 1930s are of critical importance to the history of Australian photography. Dupain’s work during World War II as a civilian photographer is also of historical significance, marking a shift in practice away from advertising and fashion, and toward social documentary.
Sunrise at Newport 1974
gelatin silver print
41.5 x 39.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Christine Godden 2011
MGA 2011.073
courtesy of The Max Dupain Exhibition Negative Archive and Rex Dupain
This black and white photograph shows an elevated perspective of a beach with a silhouetted figure walking through the waves in the foreground. A major aspect of Dupain’s practice was the imaging of Australian beaches and beach culture. This photograph was taken in Newport, which was a life-long holiday destination for Dupain after his father built a cottage there in the 1920s.
Max DUPAIN
Mosman Bay at dusk 1937
gelatin silver print
49.6 x 32.6 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by James Mollison AO through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.006
Joyce Evans
Joyce Evans (1929-2019) was a key figure of Australian photography in the late twentieth century. Evans’s initial contribution was as an advocate for the medium including establishing Church Street Photographic Centre in 1976, which reflected a broad interest in photography and assisting the careers of many Australian photographers. Evans also introduced audiences at Church Street to the work of key figures in international photography. The gallery closed in 1982. While Evans practiced as a photographer before she opened Church Street, it was in the early 1980s that she began to focus more productively on her own practice.
Mark Strizic 1984
chromogenic print
30.5 x 30.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the artist through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.272
courtesy of the artist
Wolfgang SIEVERS
Sweatshop, Melbourne 1958
gelatin silver print
31.5 x 57.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the artist 1986
MGA 1986.50
Mark STRIZIC
Mark Strizic (1928-2012) was born in Berlin and migrated to Melbourne from Zagreb, Croatia in 1950. Strizic had no formal training in photography, but began taking photographs of Melbourne in the 1950s. He abandoned his studies in physics to become a full-time photographer in 1957, taking up subsequent commissions in architectural, industrial, interior design and portrait photography. Among Strizic’s most widely recognised images are those he created of the city of Melbourne from 1955–70. In the 1970s, Strizic began to use photography in experimental and expressive ways, combining, repeating and transforming elements from his black and white negatives through colour and technical manipulation. He used bright colours to transform symbols of urban ugliness into imaginative, colourful designs that commented critically on the quality of urban Australian society. Strizic exhibited widely and his works are held in many public and private Australian collections.
An international brigade 1971
gelatin silver print
34.0 x 23.2 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Bowness Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.114
courtesy of the artist's estate
David MOORE
Nuns at Lourdes Centenary, France 1958
gelatin silver print
37.0 x 24.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Estate of David Moore 2006
MGA 2006.82
courtesy of Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore
Mark STRIZIC
Collins Street at McPherson's building - 1 1967
gelatin silver print
53.8 x 36.0 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Bowness Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.112
courtesy of the artist's estate
Mark STRIZIC
BHP steel mill, Port Kembla 1959
gelatin silver print
35.7 x 24.8 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Bowness Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.124
courtesy of the artist's estate
Mark STRIZIC
Port Kembla BHP steel casting 1959
gelatin silver print
36.9 x 29.2 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Bowness Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.125
courtesy of the artist's estate
Mark STRIZIC
Arch Robin Boyd: Domain Park, South Yarra, June 1970
gelatin silver print
41.0 x 36.4 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the Bowness Family through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 2008
MGA 2008.132
courtesy of the artist’s estate
Mark STRIZIC
McPhersons Richmond, Vic 1963
gelatin silver print
37.0 x 49.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the artist 2002
MGA 2002.08
courtesy of the artist’s estate
Mark STRIZIC
Forging 1963 style 1963
gelatin silver print
37.0 x 45.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the artist 2002
MGA 2002.11
courtesy of the artist's estate
Mark STRIZIC
McPhersons Richmond Vic 1963
gelatin silver print
37.0 x 49.5 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by the artist 2002
MGA 2002.07
Wesley STACEY
This photograph is from Wesley Stacey’s series Barragga to Indulkana (1971–92), which is a compilation of landscape photographs taken with panoramic cameras between 1971 and 1992. The photographs plot an imaginary road trip from the beach at Barragga (where Stacey lives) to a waterhole at Indulkana in northern South Australia. This cross-country transect includes views of beaches, creek beds, snowfields, grasslands, forests and deserts, from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.
The Barragga to Indulkana sequence features many of Stacey’s most dramatic panoramas. Carefully composing his shots to take advantage of the panoramic format, he uses the stretched proportions to make vistas breathe and accentuate lines of perspective.
Bush beside the Murrah River c. 1981
from the series Barragga to Indulkana
gelatin silver print
17.9 x 50.8 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by Wesley Stacey 2013
MGA 2013.121
courtesy of the artist
Wesley STACEY
Wesley Stacey (b. 1941- ) studied drawing and design at East Sydney Technical College before working as a graphic designer and photographer in Sydney and London in the early 1960s. In the late 1960s he worked as a magazine photographer in Sydney and from 1969–75 he worked as a freelance commercial photographer. He often used a Kodak Instamatic camera during the seventies, making series of informal images of his friends and recording his environment. In 1973 Stacey helped establish the Australian Centre for Photography.
Stacey is one of Australia’s most important living photographers. His work has been exhibited widely, including Serpentine Gallery, London, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia in 1991. His work is included in most significant public collections in Australia, including NGA, NGV and AGNSW. Stacey continues to work from a base on the South Coast of New South Wales.
Collusion on the shore, Cutagee 1992
gelatin silver print
65.0 x 210.0 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated by Charles Nodrum 2010
MGA 2010.041
Anne ZAHALKA
The bathers 1989
from the series Bondi: playground of the Pacific
chromogenic print
95.0 x 112.0 cm
Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection
donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by the Bowness Family 2010
MGA 2010.022
courtesy of the artist
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