Modernism came to Australian photography via many routes, including the migration of artists from Europe to Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Wolfgang Sievers (1913-2007) and Henry Talbot (1920-1999) arrived separately in Australia from Germany at the beginning of the Second World War. They both studied at avant-garde art schools in Germany and brought with them to Australia knowledge of European modernist ideas and photographic visions.

Sievers and Talbot both worked in Melbourne as commercial photographers. While Sievers specialised in industrial and architectural work, Talbot became known for his fashion photography and also focused on nudes and portraits.

This exhibition draws on photographs from the Monash Gallery of Art/City of Monash Collection and the Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth. It highlights the use of modernist aesthetics in the work of these two significant photographers who were highly influential in the development of Australian photography.