As modern as tomorrow as SLV

As modern as tomorrow
Friday 1 July 2011
State Library of Victoria
Keith Murdoch Gallery


As modern as tomorrow opens Friday 1 July at the State Library of Victoria and features the work of Melbourne's post-war photographers - many of whom are also featured in the MGA collection such as Helmut Newton, Athol Shmith, Wolfgang Sievers, Mark Strizic, and Henry Talbot.

Visitors who have also seen the Anton Bruehl exhibition at MGA are sure to pick up on commercial relationship between these photographers and their corporate clients such as the Australian Wool Board, Shell and Kodak. Until Sunday 5 February 2012

In the spotlight: Mad men

In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl photographs 1920s-1950s opens at MGA tomorrow 3pm Saturday 25 June.

Anton Bruehl was one of the most successful celebrity portraiture, advertising and fashion photographers in New York from the 1920s to the 1950s - and he was Australian.

Bruehl was at the top of his profession for 40 years, regularly producing work for the top Condé Nast publications and photographing the stars of stage and screen.

Bruehl was at the forefront of fashion and advertising magazines moving from illustration to photography. A generation of Australian photographers such as Max Dupain and Athol Shmith admired his work and dreamed of his success.

Gael Newton, Senior Curator of Photographs, The National Gallery of Australia says , “Bruehl pioneered a new colour separation process and produced hundreds of colour photographs for magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair.”

Some of Newton's favourite Bruehl images include a classic study of Marlene Dietrich in 1935 (pictured), and a 1938 portrait of Gene Tierney: "It's very evocative of the Mad Men era and a reminder that it started long before the '50s. It's also characteristic of his use of colour and his slightly strange, surreal composition."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/mad-men-artful-poser-20110623-1gh78.html#ixzz1Q9KaC6ZT

IMAGE:
Anton BRUEHL
Portrait of Marlene Dietrich, Hollywood 1935
direct positive colour photograph
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc., New York NY USA
made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006

Time is short

You have only a few weeks left to catch the remarkable Sue Ford at MGA. We are open this coming weekend from 12-5pm but closed on Monday 13 June (public holiday).

Time machine: Sue Ford is attracting a strong following and critical praise. One of MGA's most memorable exhibitions recently, it has featured on ABC's, Art Nation and The Age.

Dr Marcus Bunyan has also written an extensive review on Art Blart; "...these fantastic photographs show a strong, independent women with a vital mind, an élan vital, a critical self-organisation and an understanding of the morphogenesis of things that will engage us for years to come. Essential looking"

Time machine: Sue Ford finishes on 19 June.



image:
Sue FORD
Self portrait 1961 1961
chromogenic print, printed 2011
26 x 19.9cm
courtesy Sue Ford Archive

Georgia Metaxas at CCP

Georgia Metaxas' new exhibition The Mourners begins 17 May 2011 at the CCP.

Georgia recently presented the very popular series of photographic self-portrait workshops at MGA and works from her 2007 series Lower your ears are held in the MGA Collection.

CCP website states, "The Mourners is a series of portraits documenting the ritual of wearing black as a signifier of perpetual mourning. In remembrance of those they have lost, all that sit for a portrait in the series wear black everyday for the rest of their lives.

The controlled environment of a traveling studio replaces existing backdrops of nursing home corridors, living rooms and church halls. Stripped back to the point where only the faintest trace of the sitter's surroundings remain, the portrait brings the viewer to the periphery of an ultimately private space.

Deflecting the unflinching eye of the camera with an averted gaze, the women are absorbed by the void that is black, living mementos – vessels for mourning, fixed by a photograph, which in turn alludes to a double death."

image:
Georgia METAXAS
Untitled # 1 from the series The Mourners 2010-2011
archival inkjet print
50.8 x 40.12cm
courtesy of the artist

Sue Ford on Art Nation

If you missed ABC's Art Nation episode yesterday about our current exhibition Time machine: Sue Ford you can still catch it on the ABC website and iview.
http://www.abc.net.au/arts/tv_radio/art_nation/
and on iview
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/775966

Bowness Photography Prize 2011

Less than 3 weeks to go until closing date. Entries close 22 June 2011

There are no thematic restrictions and the competition is open to all analogue and digital photography.

Entries this year are coming in from a broad cross section of photographers - from documentary photographers to fashion photographers, as well as strong representation from contemporary artists.

Entry forms available from: http://www.mga.org.au/bowness-prize/info

Boys with guns: Prudence Murphy

Join us at MGA on Saturday 4 June for the opening of Prudence Murphy's new exhibition Boys with guns.

Murphy’s exhibition Boys with guns is a photographic series depicting children’s spontaneous weapon play, shot in Rhyl, a small coastal town in North Wales.

Murphy chose the location, cast local boys and allowed them to improvise their own games. Armed with plastic toy guns, sticks and water pistols, the boys played for several hours in the Welsh summer twilight.

Murphy has shown widely in Sydney and Melbourne including Future Forms, at Counihan Gallery in 2010, a typological series of photographs of found Lego structures, which emphasised their monumental and sculptural nature.

Intrigued? Hear Prudence talk about her work at 2pm this Saturday 4 June 2011 followed by the opening at 3pm

IMAGE:
Prudence MURPHY
Rhyl #1 from the series Boys with guns 2011
archival pigment print
80 x 110 cm
courtesy of the artist