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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Important Art
• Sale Date:
  20 Nov 2017 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  5
• Lot Description:
  Max Dupain
  (1911-1992)
  Sunbaker, 1937/1980s
  silver gelatin photograph
  39 x 41.5 cm
  signed and dated
  EXHIBITED: The Thirties and Australia, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 19 June – 13 July 1980 (another version); Max Dupain Retrospective 1930-1980, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 August – 28 September 1980 (another version); Ten Years on Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, January 1986 (another version); Celebrity Choice – Sam Neill, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 8 January – 8 February 1987 (another version); Four Photographers, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2 June – 19 August 1990 (another version); Fine and Mostly Sunny: Photographs from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 28 September – 1 December 1991 (another version); Max Dupain – An Appreciation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 August 1992-30 August 1992 (another version); Soft Shadows and Sharp Lines: Australian Photography from Cazneaux to Dupain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 September – 17 November 2002, (another version); On the Beach: with Whiteley and fellow Australian artists, The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 1 March – 29 June 2003 (another version); Modern Times, Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo, 1 August 2008 – 8 February 2009 (another version); The Photograph and Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 March – 8 June 2015; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 4 July 2015 – 11 October 2015 (another version) REFERENCES: Hal Missingham and Max Dupain, Max Dupain Photographs, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1948, plate 7 (another version); S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Thirties and Australia, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 1980, p. 18, cat no. 101 (another version); Gael Newton, Max Dupain retrospective 1930-1980, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, cat no. 28 (another version); Renee Free and Gael Newton, Onsight No. 7 – PROFILES, Sydney, 1984, p. 22 (illustrated); Max Dupain, Max Dupain’s Australia, Viking, Victoria, 1986, p.104-5 (illustrated, another version); Sandra Byron, ‘Photography’, in Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Sydney, 1988, p. 127 (illustrated, another version); Joseph Lebovic Gallery and Helen Ennis, ‘Twentieth century photography’, in Masterpieces of Australian Photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1989, pp. 150-1, cat no 262 (illustrated, another version); Sandra Byron, Fine and Mostly Sunny: photographs from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991, cat no. 22 (another version); Robin Bruckner, Art and Design Book 1, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1995, p. 144 (illustrated, another version); Author Unknown, Workover News, Sydney, 1995 (illustrated on cover, another version); Gael Newton, ‘It was a Simple Affair: Max Dupain Sunbaker’, in Brought to Light: Australian Art 1850-1965 from the Queensland Art Gallery collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1998, pp. 142-4, 146-7 (illustrated, another version); NAKADA Masaaki (ed.) Domo – Australian Living Handbook, Japan, 1999, p. 17, plate 5 (illustrated, another version); Bruce James ‘Australian Collection: Australian Photography’, in Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1999, p. 204 (illustrated, another version); Robert McFarlane, ‘Max Dupain’, in Black + White – The Masters, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1999, p. 195 (illustrated, another version); Jill White, Sebastian Smee, and Mathew Cawood, Dupain’s Beaches, Chapter & Verse, Sydney, 2000, p.68-71 cover (illustrated, another version); Judith White, ‘Sydney-side-on’, in Look, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, April 2000, p. 28 (illustrated, another version); Leone Huntsman, ‘The beach and popular culture’ in Sand in our Souls, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2001, pp. 141-2 (illustrated, another version); Natasha Bullock, Soft Shadows and Sharp Lines: Australian Photography from Cazneaux to Dupain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2002, no pagination or catalogue numbers (another version); Natasha Bullock, ‘Soft and sharp: how Australian photography moved between two styles’, in Look, Sydney, October 2002, p. 22 (illustrated, another version); Jill White, Frank Moorhouse, Dupain’s Australia, Chapter & Verse, Sydney, 2003, p.22 (illustrated, another version); Judy Annear, ‘Australian Modernism’ in Photography: Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, pp. 136, 142, 195 (illustrated, another version); Helen Ennis, ‘Localism and Internationalism’ in Photography and Australia, Reaktion Books, London, 2007, pp. 112-4, plate 64 (another version); Judy Annear, The Photograph and Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2015, p. 271 (illustrated, another version)
• Provenance:
  Church Street Photographic Centre, Richmond; Peter Burch, Melbourne
• Notes:
  Other versions of this work are held in most state and National Galleries of Australia. We are delighted to be offering the Sunbaker by Max Dupain. It is arguably the most recognisable images ever to be produced in Australia. Its place as one of the most important photographs in the Australian canon was settled when Mossgreen sold a version of this image in 2016. It sold for $105,400, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the second-highest price paid at auction for Australian photograph. The present example comes from the photographic collection of Peter Burch AM BM. Before he began assembling his photographic collection, Peter was already nurturing what would become a life-long commitment towards the development and promotion of chamber music and opera productions. His illustrious career as the first professional administrator of Victorian Opera and as the State Manager for Musica Viva Australia – the latter spanning over three decades – was distinguished by an unwavering dedication to his calling; mirroring the devotion to a metier that characterises the very musicians, actors or artists he supports. His interests for the visual arts are most clearly manifested through the accumulation of important photographic images. Peter acquired works with the discerning eye of a sophisticated collector. the examples in his collection some share some important characteristics. Namely, Peter consistently and tirelessly sourced images of high quality, rarity, exceptional condition, strong visual impact and of notable provenance. Many of his works were sourced from the now legendary Church Street Photographic Centre run by Joyce Evans. This example of Max Dupain’s Sunbaker, is one of the most pristine examples of the image that have come to the market in recent years. It took Peter a decade of persisting and persuading Joy Evans (and Max Dupain) to obtain a copy of this most iconic image. In September 2017, Mossgreen successfully sold the first part of the Peter Burch collection, including works by Arnold Newman, Herbert Ponting, Andre Kertesz, Cecil Baton, Julia Margaret Cameron and Athol Shmitm – a group of works that was as rare and unique as the collector himself. We are now delighted to be offering this, the final work from the collection of Peter Burch AM BM.
• Estimate:
  A$20,000 - 30,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.