Candid Photographs from 1950s-1970s at the Art Gallery of South Australia
ADELAIDE.- Candid moments of Australian life from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, captured by some of Australia’s most renowned photographers, go on display in Candid Camera – a fascinating new photographic exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Curated by Julie Robinson, the Art Gallery’s Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs, Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s – 1970s includes more than 80 documentary images by photographers including Max Dupain, David Moore, Jeff Carter, Robert McFarlane, Mervyn Bishop, Rennie Ellis, Carol Jerrems and Roger Scott.
These photographers have been great observers, capturing memorable images in Australia and abroad of people at leisure or engaged in everyday activities – images which appear unposed, spontaneous, or with their subjects captured unaware.
The photographs on display encompass social rituals, beach culture, protest movements, Indigenous issues, migration, youth subcultures, work, leisure, music, people, travel and humour. They range from images of the famous – such as Prime Ministers, boxing champion Lionel Rose, musicians Bon Scott and Daddy Cool – to those of ordinary people.
Jeff Carter, Saturday arvo, Chippendale, 1960, Chippendale, New South Wales, gelatin silver photograph, 30.5 x 36.1 cm (image) South Australian Government Grant 2003. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide © Jeff Carter
Says Julie Robinson, “The photographs in Candid Camera epitomise life during the 50s, 60s and 70s and resonate with spontaneity, humour and humanity.”
Robinson explains, “Even the anonymous people seem familiar to us as a result of these photographs, like David Moore’s European migrants arriving in Sydney, Rennie Ellis’s Cosmetics salesgirl, Toorak Rd, the two youths exiting ghost train ride in Roger Scott’s photograph or the unidentified women waiting at an Adelaide bus stop, in Robert McFarlane’s photograph”.
Many of these photographs have only been recently acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia and this exhibition will provide the first opportunity for audiences to view them displayed together.
Special events programmed to complement the exhibition include an in-depth talk by Candid Camera photographer, Robert McFarlane; floor talks by Julie Robinson and Adelaide photo-media artist and lecturer Mark Kimber; a START at the Gallery family day where children can create their own photo-portrait and take special tours of the exhibition; an after-dark DEPARTURE event in the exhibition for art-lovers aged under 40; and free screenings of classic 1970s Australian films.
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