Max Dupain: The Paris ‘Private’ Series

Overview

In 1978, modernist photographer Max Dupain left Australian shores for his first trip to Europe. His mission? To capture architect Harry Seidler’s Australian Embassy, constructed the year before. The two had become friends over their shared passion for form and light.

Dupain spent time exploring Paris’s many monuments and architectural features, taking photographs that varied from formal compositions playing with scale, such as a shot of Napoleon’s state on Les Invalides balcony, to candid portraits.

Now, for the first time ever, 21 of those images will be revealed to the public. Dupain originally gave them to Seidler, accompanied by a handwritten note stating, “I owe you so much. For nearly twenty-five years I have dwelt on your philosophy of architecture. We register alike about clear thinking, logic of application, poetry of form, etc etc. [sic].” Penelope Seidler donated the photos to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2012.

In addition to the Paris private portfolio, 15 of Dupain’s architecturally and botanically inspired photographs will be shown, mostly taken around Sydney and covering a 50-year span of his career.