The Photographers' Gallery and Workshop (1973–2010) was an Australian photography gallery established in South Yarra, Melbourne, and which ran almost continuously for nearly 40 years. Its representation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of contemporary and mid-century, mostly American and some European original fine prints from major artists was influential on Australian audiences and practitioners, while a selection of the latter's work sympathetic to the gallery ethos was shown alternately and then dominated the program.
Other uses
An unrelated space also called "The Photographers' Gallery" ran for three years from 1989–1992 in Brisbane;[1] another, the Photographer's Gallery [sic], was operating in Sydney in the c.1993-2000s at 96 Reserve Road, Artarmon,;[2] and the 2006 Head-On Portrait Prize Exhibition was held in Balmain, also in Sydney at a short-lived venue called "The Photographers Gallery".[3]
History
Paul Cox, Ingeborg Tyssen, John F. Williams[4] and Rod McNicol[5] founded[6] The Photographers' Gallery and Workshop in 1973[7] at 344 Punt Road, South Yarra[8] in an 1888 two-storey fruiterer's shop and dwelling (originally a bootmaker's) in the 'Sharp's Buildings' terrace,[9][10] rented since 1965 as a photographer's studio and accommodation by Paul Cox,[11] who from 1969–c.1980 taught cinematography at Prahran College.[12]
Ian Lobb,[14][15][16] an Australian born in 1948, who had undertaken workshops with Ansel Adams and Paul Caponigro,[13][17] took over the Gallery in late 1974.[18] Also that year, Lobb was teaching photography at Coburg Technical School with Carol Jerrems,[19] and they met American Bill Heimerman (born 13 January 1950) who was teaching English at the same institution and was renting rooms above the gallery; the two inspired Heimerman's interest in photography. Lobb mounted his first exhibition as director at the beginning of 1975. He and Heimerman became co-directors of the gallery from the beginning of 1976. Beside some government funding and sales, both financially supported their roles through teaching, Heimerman being next employed at Brighton Technical College, where he and other staff members established a photography program, and then at the Council of Adult Education. Critic and photography lecturer Tony Perry noted Heimerman's 'detached, informed view of photography'.[20]
Lobb and Heimerman showed some local work, but pursued high profile international, mainly American and some European, photographers for exhibitions.[21] The first exhibition of international photography at the gallery was that of Paul Caponigro in 1975 which sold 22 prints, after which success the gallery was closed for renovations and while Heimerman made a trip to the US to secure more shows. After the refurbishment Melbourne Times critic Wendy Harmer described the space as "an oasis of pristine white walls and warm, polished wood.[22]
Workshop
As well as exhibitions, and from the outset, workshops were held in the gallery building from which part of the funding for the enterprise was derived. The two floors of the terrace building accommodated a two-person darkroom available for film development and printing, and a demonstration room with 6-8 student capacity. Printing for exhibitions was offered. Technical instruction for beginners and in the Zone System for those more advanced was provided at first by Australian photographer Steven Lojewski in 1976. Evening classes ran for ten weeks. By 1977 Heimerman and Lobb had organised the first workshop to be conducted in Australia by an American photographer, Ralph Gibson, and sponsored another, of 6 days by William Clift in May 1978 (costing participants $200),[23] before Lobb left to pursue his own photography later that year. Jeff Busby, who also exhibited at the gallery, took over later as Heimerman's assistant.[22]
Among the more recent workshops was 'How Joshua Greene Saved Marilyn Monroe: Techniques to Rehabilitate Ageing Photographs and the Art of Digital Printing', held on 26 November 2002 by the son of Milton H. Greene who photographed Monroe.
In addition to its activities at its own premises was the Gallery's organisation and sponsorship of seminars by international photographers, which began with Ralph Gibson's on 11 August 1977 at Prahran College, then that of Harry Callahan, held on 20 November 1979 at the Prahran Recreational Centre, 147 High Street with also a workshop at the Gallery.[24]
Ethos
By showcasing the silver gelatin 'fine print' Lobb and Heimerman hoped to improve Australian work by example,[25] as Lobb observed,
"From 1975, every second show was an international show [. . .][26] The initial philosophy was simply to let people see the physical difference between the production of prints overseas and locally."[25]
In 1981 however, The Age newspaper listed the gallery's aims as being;
"to show international photography as well as supporting young Australians who are exploring new areas of creative and conceptual photography.[27]
Reception
Curator Joyce Agee in 1988 noted that, with feminist photography on the ascendant, the gallery's ambitions irritated some Australian women photographers;
In the 1970s, Micky Allan, the late Carol Jerrems, Ruth Maddison, Sue Ford and Ponch Hawkes, reacting against the technocratic and patriarchal American West Coast 'fine print' tradition then being promoted by The Photographers' Gallery in Melbourne, began to use photography as an intimate expression of their individual concerns.[28]
Nevertheless, Jerrems[29] was amongst the first exhibitors at the Gallery, showing there four times before her premature death in 1980. Noted women's activist Beatrice Faust, who reviewed many of the gallery's shows from 1976-88 in The Age newspaper, was supportive in her critiques, and in September 1987 hosted Beatrice Faust Curates: From Boubat to Fereday at the gallery featuring male and female photographers.[30][31]
Certainly women exhibiting were outnumbered by men in a ratio of nearly 10:1 until the 90s, after which they appear on a more equal footing (see below).
The Gallery's concentration on American photography in its early years was not in isolation and was prompted as much by interest in international photography amongst Australians as by Heimerman's own contacts in the US, and paralleled international touring exhibitions of Bill Brandt in 1971, and the French Foreign Ministry's major exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1974. Joyce Evans' Church Street also presented work by American's Minor White, Jerry Uelsmann, Les Krims and others.[32]
In mid-1978, the gallery extended a call in the pages of the magazine Light Vision to Australian photographers to submit work for a survey that was to be a traveling exhibition. The final selection, featured in the journal in a double number, 6 and 7, titled 'Special Australian Edition', issued October 1978 with two samples across double-page spreads of each of 21 photographers, many represented and selected by the Photographers Gallery, among them a number who were also 'Correspondents' for Light Vision at the time.[33] Editor Jean-Marc Le Pechoux acknowledged the cooperative nature of the venture in his editorial, and in her introduction Memory Holloway emphasised the breadth of the selection; "...a plurality of techniques, ideologies and styles; social documentary; pictorial, surreal landscapes; nudes; portraits; straight photography." Four of the 21 contributors were women, but the exercise marked a shift in the program toward a gender-inclusive representation of Australian photographers of diverse styles and often radical attitudes to picture-making and photographic printing and presentation.[34]
Tony Perry, who reviewed shows there 1978-80, was complimentary of contributions by William Heimermann and the 'Photographers Gallery' to Australian Photography in his article 'Australia: looking for a photographic identity',[35] as was Peter Turner's interview with Paul Cox in Light Vision.[36]
In 1981, The Age newspaper critic Geoff Strong, in reporting on the imminent closure of Joyce Evans' Church Street gallery, noted that The Photographers' Gallery was also facing tough times during a recession,[37] rising unemployment[38] and a general downturn in the fortunes of art galleries;
"Across the river in Punt Rd., South Yarra, Bill Heimerman sits in a back room of his Photographers' Gallery. He has just mounted an exhibition from the Dutch surrealist photographer Paul De Nooijer but it remains in darkness five days a week because he says, he cannot afford the electricity bills. He says his phone had been disconnected and he is looking for a job as a night janitor or a checkout operator in a Seven-Eleven store so he can pay the rent and keep the place open."[39]
The status and purpose of the Photographers' Gallery over its long tenure continued to evolve. Critic Beatrice Faust, a supporter of the gallery since its inception, in The Age in January 1990 observed;
"For several years now, Artist's Space has taken over the role established by the Photographers' Gallery; to provide a space for the exhibition of photographers' photographs–as distinct from the painterly kind."[40]
Nevertheless, the Gallery was to survive for another twenty years.
Closure
The gallery was closed in 2010 and sold in 2015,[41] and after a period of failing health, Bill Heimerman died on 1 October 2017.[26][42]
Legacy
In the 1970s, with the decline of the pictorial magazines and a consequent crisis in photojournalism and documentary photography,[43][44] a revival of the pre-WW2 interest in photography as a fine art was a world-wide phenomenon, as it was in Australia.[45] In 1972, Beatrice Faust, in reviewing Two Views of Erotica: Henry Talbot/Carol Jerrems at Brummels Gallery in Nation Review urged;
"There is no reason why photographs cannot be sold like prints, in numbered editions, and the trend to do this is worldwide. New York's Museum of Modern Art has had a section for photographic art for years, and a couple of these have found their way to Melbourne's National Gallery, which is the only one in Australia to have a department of photography.[46]
The Photographers' Gallery and Workshop, because of its policy of sourcing and promoting established international work of a high standard, was well placed when percipient private collectors were entering the market in fine photographic prints, and major Australian institutions were initiating collections of photography.
The inaugural curator of the new photography department Jennie Boddington at the newly (1968) re-housed National Gallery of Victoria; Alison Carroll and Ian North of the Art Gallery of South Australia[47] (which had begun to collect photography as a distinct discipline from the mid-1920s, its building expanded in 1962, refurbished 1979); and David Moore and Wes Stacey at the Australian Centre for Photography (est. 1973); all purchased from the Photographers' Gallery, with special interest in American and European works, along with the National Gallery of Australia, which though not built and opened until 1982, had started a photography collection in 1972.[48][49] Its director James Mollison turned the sponsorship of the tobacco company Philip Morris International to the acquisition of Australian photography.[50][51][52] These sales contributed significantly to the standing and survival of the Gallery, particularly in its early years of the 1970s and 1980s.[citation needed]
An archive of The Photographers' Gallery and Workshop is maintained by Heimerman's partner, Barbara Derrick.[citation needed]
Exhibitions
2006, 24 November – 1 December: Tom Putt Photographic Workshops Annual Exhibition
2006, 21 October – 19 November: Rotation II
2005, 24 August – 9 September: Lynton Crabb, The Boy From PNG[53]
2005: Defining the Fine Print
2004, 15 June – 2 July: Greg Sims, Up the Road
2004, 13–28 May: Najda Sue Macdermid, Karen Rawady, Gina Milicia, Jacquie Winder, Gaynor Manning. Presented as part of the Next Wave Festival
2004, January–February: Peter Leiss, War Fever: 50 Images of Urban America, 1992–1994
2003, 3–20 April: Neil Howe: Bodyscapes II[54][55]
2003, 13–23 March: Serendipity
2002, 2–22 December: Derrick Lee and Ray Moles The Rainforest and Beyond
2002, 31 October – 1 December: Marilyn Monroe: Sixty images by Milton Green[56]
2002, 10–27 October: Protection: combined works by Francesca Golotta and Maurizio Golotta
2000, 12–29 October: The Nature of Things. Artists: Nigel Clements, Myer Bloom, Mick Sirianni, Gayle Slater, Gay Clarke, Kevin Birks, Stuart Murdoch, John Muller, Virginia Stobart, Chris Manteris, Gillian Martin, Gavin Liddle
2000, 28 September – 8 October: Jeremy Angerson presents Dreamasaurus. Photographers: Allison Adamson, Kata Bayer, Chris Beck, Eric Blaiche, Bournou Photography Designs, Andrew Chapman, Andy Dunbar, Josh Ellis, Rennie Ellis, John Gollings, Vanessa Hall, Grant Hancock, David Johns, Tard Johnston, Stuart Kerne, Ian Lawrence, Jason Lucas, Katherine Mandie, David Marks, Mercury Megaloudis, Ned Meldrum, Pru Miller, Gerard O'Conner, Lesley O'Donnell, James Pepino, Peter Rozetsky, Marco Sacchi, Jason South, Rod Stewart, Leanne Temme, Serge Thomann, Andy Vuksova, Dale Wright, Taek Yang, Yatzek, Jack Zarafian[63]
2000, 14–24 September: Circles of Confusion: a photographic exhibition Artists: Evan Collins, John Muller, Chloe Holder, Livia Milazzo, Mirjana Josik, Hedy Ritterman, Virginia Stobart[64]
1999, 12–29 August: Mary Fennessy, Julie Marchant, Suzanne Neale and Pamela Young, Transitions[72]
1999, 22 July – 8 August: Nudes, incl. photographers Gordon Bunyan and Martin Barrie
1999, 10–27 June: Roxanne Oakley Scratching the Surface[73][74]
1999, 20 May – 6 June: La Trobe University, Bendigo, Photography and Photojournalism. Irene Brereton, Jodie Clough, Jade Denton, Harry Palmer, Matthew Wickham, Ron Brown, Tom Campbell, Glenda Hooper, Name Salmon, Brad Wileman, Michael Harkin, Amanda Parker
1999, 29 April – 16 May: Gayle Slater, Continuum
1999, 8–25 April: Debra Pleuckhahn
1999, 18 March – 4 April: Andrea Paton, The Red Tent
1999, 25 February – 14 March: Synergy. Artists: Chris Lim, Deanna Ross, Susan Grdunac, Ellie Young, Bronwen Hyde, Marryanne Christodoulou, Kalli Karvelas, Berenger Marin Dubuard, Roxanne Oakley
1998, 1—20 December: Deanna Ross The Street is a Stage
1998, 12–29 November: Matthew SleethRoaring Days exhibition and book Launch
1998, 22 October – 8 November: Contemporary Australian Artists, The William Heimerman Collection. Artists: Amy Barker, Peter Barker, Robert Besanko, John Billan, Tiffany Bishop, Warren Brenninger, Marcus Bunyan, Francis Busby, Jeff Busby, Kerry Clark, Christine Cornish, Daniella Donate, Rennie Ellis, Greg Elms, Francesca Golotta, Fiona Hall, Kylie Hamill, William Heimerman, Bill Henson, Carol Jerrems, Christopher Koller, Peter Leiss, Jean Marc Lepechoux, Ian Lobb, Rosemary Mckeoun, Denise Moore, Paul Nadalin, Harry Nankin, Susan Purdy, Karen Rawady, Katherine Reeves, Kaye Rentil, Allison Ross, Mic Siranni, Gayle Slater, Anke Stacker, Virginia Stobart, Colin Vickery, Les Walkling, Konrad Winkler[75]
1998, 1–19 October: G.A.S.: La Trobe University, Bendigo Media Arts students
1998, 17–27 September: Photographic Imaging Centre Annual Staff Exhibition.
1998, 20 August – 6 September: Second Series: Photographs by Konrad Winkler
1998: 30 July – 16 August: Three Suites: Colin Vickery, Susan Purdy, John Billan
1998: 13–29 July, the Gallery was closed for renovations
1998: 12, 1 July:00pm–5:00pm: Photographs by graduates of the 1998 M.33 Linden Documentary Workshop: The Blue Tak Show[76]
1998, 28 May – 14 June: Carolyn Cliff, Natures[77]
1996, 5–22 September, Marcus Bunyan, All Natural Fibres[86]
1996, 2–19 September: The Big Picture: a photographic exhibition by the staff of Photographic Imaging College. Artists; Daniel Bacon, Peter Barker, Kevin Birks, Myer Bloom, Gay Clarke, Nigel Dements, Chris Manteris, Stuart Murdoch, Mick Siranni, Gayle Slater[71]
1996, 15 August – 1 September: Salon '96: a collection of photographers showing trends from the 70s, 80s and 90s
1996, 25 July – 11 August, Allison Ross, The Union of Psyche and Eros[87]
1996, 4–21 July, Photographs by David Showler and Glenn Sloggett, co-curator: Louisa Ragas.[88][89]
1996, 23 May – 9 June, Maxienne Young, Experiences in Time
1993, 21 October – 28 November: Christopher Groenhout[101]
1993, 7–17 October, Marcus Bunyan: The naked man fears no pickpockets.[102]
1993, August: Brighton Bay graduate exhibition, Separate Distractions Pt.1[103]
1992, 4–19 December: Peter Leiss, The Romper Stomper Series[104]
1992: First year photography, RMIT Bundoora, Points Of Departure[105][106]
1991, 27 September – 6 October: Myopia: The Photographic Imaging Centre's Staff Exhibition Artists; Peter Barker, Kevin Birks, Myer Bloom, Gay Clarke, Werner Hammerstingl, Carolyn Deutsher, Chris Manteris, Stuart Murdoch, Mick Siranni, Gayle Slater
1987, 5–15 November: M.C.A.E Final Year Photography Students Peter McDougall, Celina Loren-Rymaszewska, Barbara Syme, Rosemary Connors, Marina Grubelich, Parallax
1978, 17 August – 17 September: Harry Callahan[159][160]
1978, 20 July – 13 August: New Australian Work. Artists: Gerard Groenveld, Bill Henson, Vivienne Hale, David Ellis, Fiona Hall, Ian Cerchi, Stephen Roach, Penny Malone, Peter Charuk, John Adair, Rod McNicol, Jon Macmichael, Christine Cornish, Frank Busby, Greg Wayn, Rod Trinca, Paul Krieg, Geoff Strong, Wayne Fimeri, Sandy Edwards[161]
1978, 15 June – 16 July: Ralph Gibson: Colour Work
1978, 18 May – 11 June: Four Australian Women: Carol Jerrems, Christine Godden, Christine Cornish and Jenny Aitken[162][163]
Other solo or group exhibitions at the Gallery[21][183] presented photographers Paul Hopper and Ingeborg Tyssen. In 1982 The Photographers' Gallery presented Aaron Siskind at Reconnaissance in Fitzroy in a joint venture.[184]
References
^"The Photographer's Gallery". ARI Remix: Living Archives, Artist-Runs 1980 to NOW. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
^Williams, J. F.; McFarlane, Robert; Newton, Gael (2004), Line zero, photo-reportage 1958-2003, University of New South Wales Press, ISBN978-0-86840-487-5
^McNicol gives the year of establishment as 1975 in McNicol, Roderick (2014), The existential portrait, Monash Gallery of Art, ISBN978-1-876764-45-6
^ abAnne Latrielle 'Pictorial gallery open today,' in The Age, Wed, 5 March 1975, Page 18
^ abPaul Taylor and Sebastian Costanzo, 'A Melbourne Gallery Guide,' The Age, Friday 7 August 1981, p.45
^"Advertising". Jewish Herald. Vol. XVI, no. 407. Victoria, Australia. 30 September 1895. p. 13. Retrieved 20 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Family Notices". Leader. No. 30[?]2. Victoria, Australia. 4 July 1914. p. 60. Retrieved 20 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^Cox, Paul (1998), Reflections : an autobiographical journey, Currency Press, pp. 76–82, ISBN978-0-86819-549-0
^ abGeoff Strong, 'The Melbourne Movement: fashion and faction in the 1970s'. In Bennett, David; Agee, Joyce (1988), The thousand mile stare : a photographic exhibition, The Victorian Centre for Photography, ISBN978-0-7316-2054-8
^Crombie, Isobel; Byron, Sandra (1990), Twenty contemporary Australian photographers : from the Hallmark Cards Australian Photographic Collection, National Gallery of Victoria, ISBN978-0-7241-0142-9
^ abTony Perry, 'Striking quality from 22 top photographers.' In The Age, Friday, 15 June 1979, p.2
^ abRobert Deane, 'FOREIGN INFLUENCES iN AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY 1930-80', A lecture delivered at APSCON, National Gallery of Australia 10 October 2000, Canberra
^ abWendy Harmer, 'Life through the lens.' In The Melbourne Times, 24 February 1982, p.11
^ abTony Perry, 'Australia: Longing for a photographic identity'. In Print Letter No.25 Jan/Feb. 1980 Vol 5 N0.1 p.8- 9
^Brigid Cole-Adams, 'Dealing in the world of Asian and tribal art, The Age, Tuesday 10 Feb 1981, p.18
^Joyce Agee, 'Introduction'. In Bennett, David; Agee, Joyce (1988), The thousand mile stare : a photographic exhibition, The Victorian Centre for Photography Inc, ISBN978-0-7316-2054-8
^Jerrems, Carol (1974), Fraser, Virginia (ed.), A book about Australian women, Outback Press, ISBN978-0-86888-007-5
^Wolfe, Ross (1995), Samstag : the 1995 Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarships, University of South Australia, ISBN978-0-86803-134-7
^Geoff Strong, 'In a dark age behind the camera,' in The Age, Monday, Nov 30, 1981, page 10
^Beatrice Faust, 'A year of garlic and sapphires: Photography flourished in 1989 but not as a paying artform, says BEATRICE Faust,' in The Age Friday 5 Jan 1990, p.10
^Allan, Stuart, ed. (2017), Photojournalism and citizen journalism : co-operation, collaboration and collectivity, Routledge, p. 320, ISBN978-0-415-79246-2
^Cookman, Claude Hubert (2009), American photojournalism : motivations and meanings, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University Press, ISBN978-0-8101-2358-8
^Ennis, Helen (2007), Photography and Australia, Reaktion Books, pp. 99, 116, 118, ISBN978-1-86189-323-9
^Beatrice Faust, "Erotica", Nation Review, 15–22 December 1972, p. 288.
^National Gallery of Australia; Green, Pauline (2003), Building the collection, National Gallery of Australia, ISBN978-0-642-54196-3
^Mollison, James (1979), Australian photographers : the Philip Morris Collection, Philip Morris (Australia)Ltd, ISBN978-0-9500941-1-3
^Besanko, Robert (1980), Aspects of the Philip Morris Collection : four Australian photographers, Regional Development Program, Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, ISBN978-0-908024-33-9
^Freda Freiberg, 'Poetry in Neglect: in this exhibition Jeff Busby shows another facet of his versatile talent,' in The Age Thursday 28 September 1995, p.14
^ abcdeSponsorship for this program of five Phillip Institute Media students curated shows was provided by the Victorian Ministry for the Arts, Phillip Institute, and the United States Information Service. See: Unknown. "Emmet Gowin Photographer's Gallery, Melbourne". Item held by National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^Sophie Arnold (1986) 'Three views on display,' The Age, Tuesday 11 February 1986
^Beatrice Faust, 'From Japan, an Exhibition of Images to Haunt the Memory', Age, 10 December 1984, 14., cited in Miles, Melissa; Gerster, Robin (2018), Pacific exposures : photography and the Australia-Japan relationship, ANU Press, ISBN978-1-76046-255-0
^Beatrice Faust, 'Ignore the camera, watch the picture,' in The Age, Tuesday 23 February 1988, p.14
^Beatrice Faust, 'Dark powerful homage to dancing bodies.' In The Age, 24 September 1984
^Anthony Clarke, 'Excitement in black and white.' In The Age, 25 May 1984
^Anthony Clarke, 'Subtle message in bold form.' In The Age, Tuesday 17 April, p.14
^Kismaric, Susan; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1989). California photography : remaking make-believe. Museum of Modern Art. ISBN978-0-87070-183-2.
^Tony Perry: 'Handfield changes direction', The Age, 31 July 1980, p.10
^Tony Perry, 'Moore wins recognition,' in The Age, Monday, 23 June 1980, p.10
^Tony Perry, 'Vandalism hits home as art.' The Age, Thursday, 1 May 1980, p.10
^Tony Perry, 'Boubat bond'. In The Age, Tuesday 15 April 1980, p.10
^Colin Abbott, 'Humour, and geometry, space out the nudes.' The Age, 1980
^Colin Abbott, 'Simple perfection.' In The Melbourne Times, December 1979
^Tony Perry, 'Life in the raw vernacular.' The Age, 1979
^Tony Perry, 'Eggleston mirrors urban life.' The Age, Tuesday, 28 August 1979, p.2
^Peter Perry, Caponigro captures Stonehenge enigma', in The Age Friday 23 March 1979, p.2
^Tony Perry, 'Poetry of a private reality', The Age, 1978
^Unpublished Photographers' Gallery stock book lists works sold to Australian Centre for Photography (3) Art Gallery of South Australia (2), National Gallery of Victoria (5), Australian National Gallery (2).
^Tony Perry, 'Still room for improvement,' The Age, Wednesday, 9 August 1978, p.2
^Jerrems, Carol; Clark, Larry; Goldin, Nan; Yang, William (2010), King, Natalie (ed.), Up close : Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and William Yang, Heide Museum of Modern Art : Schwartz City, p. 170, ISBN978-1-86395-501-0
^Maureen Gilchrist, 'Photography in focus.' In The Age, Wednesday 17 November 1976, p.2