Although Max Dupain is more widely recognised for his beach scenes and documentary photography, portraiture was also a significant aspect of his practice, particularly from the 1930s to the 1960s. Dupain took numerous photographs of his friends in the art world, including Russell Drysdale, Elaine Haxton and Norman Lindsay. This is one of Dupain’s earliest portraits. Taken in 1936, and likely commissioned, this photograph portrays the well-known Australian artist and writer Norman Lindsay.
2023
Gelatin silver prints are black-and-white photographic prints that have been created using papers coated with an emulsion of gelatin and light-sensitive silver salts. After the papers are briefly exposed to light (usually through a negative), a chemical developer renders the latent image as reduced silver, which is then fixed and washed. This technique was first introduced in the 1870s and is still used today. Most twentieth-century black-and-white photographs are gelatin silver prints. They are known for being highly detailed and sharply defined prints with a distinguishable smooth, even image surface.
