(Form at) Bondi 1939
Photographer
Max Dupain
(1911 - 1992)
Date1939
Object number00001255
NameSilver gelatin print
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall: 435 x 405 mm
Display dimensions (Frame): 895 x 660 x 45 mm
Mount / Matt size: 866 x 630 mm
Display dimensions (Frame): 895 x 660 x 45 mm
Mount / Matt size: 866 x 630 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
Description(Form at) Bondi 1939, by Max Dupain.HistoryDupain preferred black and white photography to capture the dazzling light and colour of the Australian seaside.
He was a leading figure of the modernist New Photography movement in the 1930s and pursued a life long fascination with extremes of light, perspective and its relationship to form.
"The marvellous balance of Max Dupains (Form at) Bondi, which is human rather than statuesque, comes
from the lifted heel and the tugging thumb of the woman. There is also a subtle contrast between the scrambled sand and the lifting spray in the distance, and the sleek, well-oiled, sunburnt skin of the figures in the foreground. And one can only marvel at the luck, if it was that, which positioned the two young men in white-belted bathers on either side of the central figures."
('State of the Art', Number 8, April 1994).SignificanceCelebrated photographer Max Dupain turned his camera on the beach to create some of Australia's most enduring images of sunbathers, surf lifesavers and swimmers.
