Maree CLARKE
Maree Clarke 2012
from the series Ritual and ceremony
© Maree Clarke, courtesy the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery (Melbourne)
Through the lenses of over 50 artists, 100 faces brings together 100 works drawn from three photographic collections to explore the portrait in its many forms, as well as what it means to collect portraiture both publicly and privately.
This exhibition draws from two private Melbourne collections, belonging to the Harris and Rosenthal families. Works from these collections have been placed in conversation with our significant public collection to reveal a rich diversity of faces. From celebrities and cultural figures to anonymous individuals caught unawares on the street, this exhibition features works by major Australian and international artists.
Covering a vast timespan, from the 1860s to today, 100 faces encompasses a range of styles and approaches, including staged studio portraiture as well as candid street photography. While many of the artists in this exhibition use portraiture to capture specific people and faces, others adopt the genre to explore broader themes, such as time, death, intimacy, personal and cultural identity, as well as the history of representation.
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Tony Albert, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Brook Andrew, Atong Atem, Jack Cato, Katthy Cavaliere, Harold Cazneaux, IJ Chidley, Maree Clarke, Nancy Cohen, Michael Cook, Olive Cotton, Paul Cox, Max Dupain, Rennie Ellis, Andre Evinson, Sue Ford, Gisèle Freund, Thomas Skelton Glaister, Nan Goldin, Ezra Goulter, Katy Grannan, Ren Hang, Brendan Hennessy, Bill Henson, Mark Ivan Hinderaker, Ruth Hollick, Zhang Huan, Carol Jerrems, Yousuf Karsh, André Kertesz, Shea Kirk, Christopher Köller, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, John William Lindt, Ruth Maddison, Ricky Maynard, Rod McNicol, Georgia Metaxas, Lisette Model, David Moore, May Moore, Lewis Morley, Shirin Neshat, Helmut Newton, George Perry, Émilie Régnier, Francis Reiss, Michael Riley, Athol Shmith, Geoffrey Smith, Paul Strand, Mark Strizic, Sofia Tekela-Smith, Christian Thompson, Lyndal Walker, Weegee
Curators | Angela Connor, MAPh Senior Curator and Stella Loftus-Hills, MAPh Curator
Please note: This exhibition contains nudity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are respectfully advised that this exhibition contains images of people (and mentions in writing those) who have passed away.
Documentary photography often illuminates the power triangle between the photographer, subject and viewer. The relationship between empathy and exploitation of a subject are questions that are common within the photographic realm, in addition to themes such as the right to privacy. Street photography emerged as camera technology became more portable and photographers could engage with their subjects more readily. Lisette Model and Paul Strand pioneered a documentary approach to photography and were highly influential in the shaping of America’s cultural identity. They both explored the human condition in an urban context.
Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s informal image of a woman walking her dog captured the street life and fashion of Avenue du Bois de Bologne in Paris. Drawn to movements, Lartigue disregarded formal composition for a snapshot aesthetic, and created a new visual language for the 2Øth century. Bill Henson’s crowd images are tightly cropped black-and-white photographs of people near Flinders Street Station. These kinds of candid photographs, often showing people caught unawares on the street, spark questions around the idea of the gaze, who is being watched, and whether they are compliant in the exchange.
Some of the earliest photographs in the exhibition are the cartes de visite from the late 19th century. Exchanged socially, these ‘calling cards’ were popular in the colonial era and made photographic portraits accessible to the masses. These small albumen prints reveal early cultural and personal histories, as well as dress and fashion of the period.
Contemporary portraiture often references these early representations. Drawing on archival material and early representations of Indigenous people, Brook Andrew’s ‘Sexy and dangerous II’ challenges the construction of identity and its associated myths. The work references the ‘calling cards’ that were produced to document the ‘exotic’ inhabitants for the tourist trade.
Offering agency to his subjects, Michael Riley’s series A common place: portraits of Moree Murries presents two Aboriginal missions on Moree. Setting up a backdrop underneath a tree, he asked the community how they wanted to be presented. Shot in a straightforward manner, the portraits show friends, family relatives and community personalities documenting a particular period in time.
Shea Kirk also draws on traditional modes of studio portraiture, inviting friends, friends of friends and strangers to be photographed in his home studio. The sessions are slow and methodical and shot through dual large-format cameras. Similar to Riley, Kirk’s photographs are an opportunity for the subjects to present themselves how they would like to be photographed.
The idea of the artist’s studio conjures up romantic visions of creativity, and has long fascinated photographers and viewers. This section looks at the studio as a place of reflection and work, beginning with three portraits by Giselle Freund, a feminist scholar and trailblazer who photographed cultural figures of the 2Øth century. Beginning in the 193Øs, in her lifetime she amassed an impressive portfolio of literary figures, including Henri Matisse and George Bernard Shaw. Elegantly composed, and rarely retouched, her works imbue the psychology and spirit of the artists she portrayed.
A salon hang showing the faces of well-known Australian artists, including Fiona Hall, Inge King, Robert Klippel, Norman Lindsay, Tracey Moffatt and Mirka Mora illustrates a variety of portrait approaches including studio, candid and staged. The faces of photographers Max Dupain, Athol Shmith and Henry Talbot also feature, alongside a self-portrait by David Moore. Architects Robyn Boyd and Harry Seidler are shown seated at their desks; Patrick White is captured in an outdoor setting; Barry Humphries reclines amongst walls of artworks; and Judy Garland behaves awkwardly in Melbourne during her infamous 1964 performance.
The photographers in this section intimately document their surroundings, often making use of a snapshot aesthetic to convey ‘truth’ and ‘honesty’. The insider and outsider positions are important in establishing the relationship between the photographer and subject, providing a context for how a photograph has been obtained. Nan Goldin pioneered the use of an insider position, chronicling her personal history over the last 4Ø years. Often taking part in the diaristic images herself, she portrays sex, suffering and drug use amongst her circle of friends.
From an outsider perspective, Katy Grannan and Émilie Régnier use the internet and newspaper advertisements to find their photographic subjects. In her series Sugar Camp Road, Grannan employed amateur models who she had sourced and paid from local newspaper advertisements. She allowed the participants to choose how they would like to be photographed, giving them agency over their own representation. Régnier sourced participants from all over the world for her Leopard series, which examines the synergy between African styles, Western trends and the universality of the leopard print.
Adornments, such as paint, motifs and costumes, characterise the works within this section. Through the use of highly distinctive patterns and marks, these artists examine personal and cultural identity, at times making potent political and social statements. A selection of portraits, such as the works by Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou and Atong Atem take place in a studio setting, using ornate backdrops and traditional fabrics to celebrate contemporary African identities while acknowledging the changing post-colonial cultural landscape.
Other artists, Zhang Huan and Shirin Neshat use their native language written over self-portraits to draw attention to the complexity of experiences between their birth countries and their new homes in the West. Tony Albert painted targets on the chests of young Aboriginal men for his series Brothers as a gesture of solidarity and defiance. This series was made in response to an event, which saw two teenage boys wounded by police in Sydney’s Kings Cross in April 2Ø12. Sophia Tekela-Smith places a traditional body ornament, the cowrie shell, in the mouth of her partner and artist John Pule. A gesture of intimacy, or a silencing device?
Since photography’s inception our intrigue with death and mortality has been well documented. The works in this section remind us of the finiteness of time, starting with Katthy Cavaliere’s photograph of the now defunct hourglass that contains her mother’s ashes. Weegee and Manual Alvarez Bravo depict dramatic moments of death. Their works are closely linked to capturing the human condition, and in particular scenes of trauma. Weegee became well-known in the 193Øs and 194Øs for recording urban scenes of trauma and injury. He estimated that he covered more than 5ØØØ murders in New York, including in locations such as Skid Row and the Bowery between 1935 and 1945, documenting a violent era of history.
Other photographers, like Georgia Metaxas and Nan Goldin, approach their subjects from a compassionate framing. Goldin depicts a final and tender moment between two Parisian lovers, Gilles and Gotscho as they prepare for Gilles’s death from AIDS. Documenting the ritual of wearing black as a signifier of perpetual mourning, Metaxas’s photographs, created in collaboration with her subjects, offer a seriousness of intent.
