Fashion Trends

Fashion, form and the beach: the photography of Max Dupain – in pictures

Posted by author-avatar
0
Fashion, form and the beach: the photography of Max Dupain – in pictures
Black and white photograph of 1940s women and men in line at a butcher
Meat Queue, 1946Dupain’s favourite photograph of the hundreds of thousands he took was Meat Queue, which captures life in Sydney in the 1940sShare
Black and white photograph of a topless woman reclining with an arm over her head and mesh shadows falling over her face and torso
Jean with mesh shadow, 1936 Jean Lorraine was a good friend and frequent model of both Dupain and Olive Cotton. In 2003, she said of Dupain: ‘Compared to other photographers I posed for, his ideas were always more original. And he was great fun’Share
Discus thrower, Cronulla Beach, c 1937 Dupain bought his first car, a brightyellow soft-top Chevrolet Roadster that became known as ‘theYellow Terror’. Having access to a car allowed Dupain to moveaway from the city centre for photographic shoots. This shot was taken at the Cronulla sandhills, in southern Sydney.
Discus thrower, Cronulla Beach, c 1937 In 1936 Dupain bought his first car, a bright yellow soft-top Chevrolet Roadster that became known as ‘the Yellow Terror’. Having a car allowed him to move away from the city centre for shoots. Some of his well-known shots, including this one, were taken in the Cronulla sandhills in southern SydneyShare
Black and white photograph of a group of men erecting a wooden pole
Civil Constructional Corps (CCC) erecting pole to support camouflage net to cover aircraft, c 1943Although Dupain was a pacifist, he joined the Sydney Camouflage Group, a group of artists, photographers and scientists studying the techniques of camouflage. Dupain become an accredited camouflage officer with the RAAF in 1941Share
Black and white photograph of a man and a woman on a beach, wearing bathers, seen from behind
Forms at Bondi, 1939 Dupain took several shots of this couple standing on Bondi beach looking out to sea. Photographed from a low angle with a Rolleiflex camera, the almost sculptural pose is humanised by the woman pulling at her swimming costumeShare
Black and white photograph of the Sydney Opera House during construction
Sydney Opera House during construction, November 1965The Sydney Opera House project began as a non-commissioned labour of love. Dupain began capturing the early construction in 1958, and continued to photograph it until completion in the early 70sShare
Black and white photograph of a very young girl with an approaching storm in the background behind her
Little girl and approaching storm, Penrith, 1949This photograph was included in the ‘6 photographers’ exhibition held in Sydney’s David Jones Gallery in 1955, alongside the work of Gordon Andrews, Kerry Dundas, Hal Missingham, Axel Poignant and David PottsShare
Black and white photograph of gumtrees and bush
MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory, c 1942Dupain managed to take personal shots while doing his war work. His photographic subjects cover training at Bankstown and Richmond airfields but also day trips around Alice Springs in Central Australia and the long drive up the new Stuart Highway to Darwin, where he arrived in 1943, a year after the city was bombedShare
Black and white photograph of crowds at the beach, while lifesavers compete in a surf carnival
Parade of masculinity, Freshwater Beach, c 1950Dupain’s photography and beach culture will always be linked in Australian cultural memory. He felt compelled to take photographs away from work and they were often taken at the beach. His interest in physical culture was fostered from a young age by his gymnasium-owning fatherShare
Black and white photograph of
Sunbaker, c 1938Sunbaker depicts Dupain’s friend Harold ‘Hal’ Salvage, who had just come out of the surf and flopped down on to the sand during a camping trip to Culburra beach, near Nowra. Dupain took several photographs of Salvage but this one – with the fingers of his right hand wrapped over his left – was his preferred shot. Prints from a second negative, with the hand relaxed, became his most famous photograph. The negative for this print is lost, and the exhibition includes the only known printShare
Black and white photograph of
Self-portrait with Hasselblad, Vanuatu, 1988One of Dupain’s last self-portraits is this soulful mirror ‘selfie’ taken during a holiday in Vanuatu. He used a Hasselblad camera – his preferred camera for quick work and portraiture from the 1950sShare

Explore more on these topics

  • Photography
  • Rural and regional Australia
  • Beach holidays
Newer
Inside the Oxfam shop that inspired a second-hand fashion boom
Back to list
Older Why Hendersonville NC is one of the best day trips from Greenville, SC

Related Posts

The Business of Fashion Film: A High-Stakes Creative Laboratory | LBBOnline
22 Sep
Fashion Trends

The Business of Fashion Film: A High-Stakes Creative Laboratory | LBBOnline

Posted by author-avatar
0
Fashion has always operated at the vanguard of visual culture. As part of LBB’s September Issue, we are turning our lens towards the undeniable role that fashion film plays within the global industry of image creation. Far removed from the rigid testing and focus groups of traditional advertising, fashion film occupies a protected, highly coveted…
Continue reading
UK backs emerging fashion designers with £3 million
21 Sep
Fashion Trends

UK backs emerging fashion designers with £3 million

Posted by author-avatar
0
The funding pledge will provide £1 million (~$1.3 million) a year for the 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 rounds of BFC NEWGEN, the British Fashion Council’s flagship talent support programme. The extension means government support for the scheme, which began in 2023, will continue until 2029, a press release from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media…
Continue reading
Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection
19 Sep
Fashion Trends

Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Posted by author-avatar
0
Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection Image Credit: Courtesy of Fashion East Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at London Fashion Week Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection Image Credit: Courtesy of Fashion East Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at London Fashion Week Fashion East Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection Image Credit: Courtesy of Fashion East Fashion East…
Continue reading
Fashion Spending Worldwide: 2.5% in the U.S., 5.3% in China - Modaes Global
18 Sep
Fashion Trends

Fashion Spending Worldwide: 2.5% in the U.S., 5.3% in China – Modaes Global

Posted by author-avatar
0
The share of the fashion budget varies significantly from continent to continent. Among China, the European Union, and the United States—the three leading regions in the global fashion market—the proportion of the consumer budget allocated to clothing and footwear can vary by as much as a factor of two. According to the latest available data,…
Continue reading
Can A No-Phones Fashion Week Exist?
18 Sep
Fashion Trends

Can A No-Phones Fashion Week Exist?

Posted by author-avatar
0
In an effort to spend less time on my phone this year, I got a second phone. My primary iPhone has one screen of utilitarian apps (Gmail, iMessage, maps, weather) while my second phone is home to all my mobile vices (social media, food delivery, shopping apps). Most of my day is spent with my…
Continue reading

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *