Thursday, May 28, 2009

David Moore: A Renowned Australian Photographer

(Above) Diving suits, Menorca, Spain [100 Photographs, pl. 033] 1954 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Sisters of Charity, Washington DC [100 Photographs, pl. 038] 1956 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Lloyd Rees at 90, Northwood, Sydney [100 Photographs, pl. 096] 1985 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate

(Above) Fairground horses, UK [100 Photographs, pl. 027] 1953 (ca) Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Painting the Himalaya, Sydney [100 Photographs, pl. 018] 1950 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Orcades departure, Pyrmont [100 Photographs, pl. 009] 1948 (ca) Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Pyrmont Bridge, Sydney [100 Photographs, pl. 005] 1947 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


(Above) Funnel of Orion [100 Photographs, pl. 004] 1947 Gelatin silver print David Moore Estate © Courtesy of the David Moore Estate


FROM TIME TO TIME I LIKE TO REMIND MY READERS OF A GREAT WEB SITE on photography called Luminous Lint. It is a very complete and thorough Web site that traces the beginnings of photography to present day photographer/artists. Developed by my friend Alan Griffiths, Alan has devoted himself to this effort. If you have a question about photography, the processes, the styles, the art or the science—you can most likely find it on this site. It’s an on-going labor of love—for you folks who love photography.

Luminous Lint hosts special on-line exhibitions every month. Last month (April 2, 2009) was the exhibition “David Moore: 100 Photographs”— the legacy photographs of the late David Moore (1927-2003), who was a renowned Australian photojournalist. At his death, David left a legacy of over 200,000 negatives, of which 100 were selected for posthumous publication in editions of 90.
Moore felt that this set of images was pivotal to the archival record – historically, artistically and biographically. He asked his daughter, Lisa Moore, to coordinate the posthumous production of limited edition prints from each negative. She felt that this was also her father’s way of ensuring that his legacy of photographs was not only still available to the public but was represented by a collection over which he had exercised control.

In the 1950s his photographs were widely published in newspapers and magazines including The Observer, Time-Life, Look, The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. In 1958 he joined Black Star, a photo agency based in New York. Numerous books have been published of his work and many of his photographs have become iconic images of Australia.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

beautiful photography...Gary

Matt said...

those pics of the ship are incredible! thanks for sharing them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for directing me to this web-site. I shall save it to my favorites :)

Anne Bentley said...

Calling David Moore Australia's Greatest Photographer does not sit comfortably. The Luminous Lint site calls him a reowned photojournalist and he is. His photography still plays an important role in the history of last century. But greatest? Many would point out that Max Dupain (http://www.maxdupain.com.au/) is the 'greatest' - but renown again is probably the better term. Harold Cazeaux is another very important Australian photographer (http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/caz/spirit.html) and I would suggest that David Moore would have sited these people as his betters. One of the most revered Australian photographers to also include here is Olive Cotton: (http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media/archives_2000/olive_cotton)
Of course one has to distinguish art, commercial & journalistic qualifications of photography.
And then there is the single image that can change the course of history such as Peter Dombrovskis's Rock Island Bend photograph that was instrumental in stopping the Franklin River Dam in Tasmania (http://www.envlaw.com.au/tasmanian_dam.html) I have stood in front of the actual image and it is astounding and moving. So there you go, my soapbox is crumpling and I fear my spelling may deteriorate. I do enjoy your magazine and hope some folks take a moment to check out some of Australia's other 'great' photographers.

Unknown said...

I have just stumbled over this blog - I am David's daughter Lisa Moore and frankly I agree with Anne Bentley. David would not have been happy at all to have this label associated with him. Yes he was very renowned but the label 'greatest' is just too much. Also John had not sort copyright permission to publish these images on the web. If he did I may have been aware of the error in his title.

John Foster said...

To Anne and Lisa: You are correct. I let my enthusiasm and love for David's images interfere with sound art historical judgment. I stand corrected and have changed the headline of the post, as well as reference to David being "the greatest." Certainly there were other greats whom David stood with—not better than. Thanks for setting me straight.

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