The Vandyke Album

The Vandyke Album is in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Vandyke Album was created by Max Dupain and Olive Cotton and is of importance to Australia's photographic history giving context to the Australian photograph "The Sunbaker".

The Vandyke Album
Materialphotographic silver gelatin prints, paper and pen
Size30.7 x 22.6 cm or smaller, in album 31 x 24 cm
WritingEnglish, handwritten titles
Created1937
DiscoveredDonated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Anthony C. Vandyke and John A. Vandyke, May 2012
Present locationState Library of New South Wales
IdentificationSAFE/PXA 1951

Description

Taken around 1937 by the photographer Max Dupain (1911–1992), the Sunbaker entered Australia’s consciousness in the mid-1970s to rapidly become a symbol of the country’s identity and way of life. The camping album or Vandyke album is of exceptional importance in Australia's photographic history as it gives context to the iconic Australian photograph "The Sunbaker".[1] The photograph of Harold Salvage, a British builder who was part of a group of friends on a surfing trip,

has become perhaps Australia's most famous photograph and a convenient symbol of our laid-back culture and love of the sea[2]

Dupain's preferred version of the Sunbaker had Harold Savage's hands clasped, but the sole surviving print of this version is in the Vandyke album.[3] [4] The image in the album did not appear until Max Dupain’s first monograph was published in 1948, after this, the negative was lost.[5] In the 1970s, Dupain printed a second version of the Sunbaker with Savage's hands unclasped.[5] Initially not widely known, the Sunbaker gained fame when it was used as the poster for the opening exhibition of the Australian Centre for Photography in 1975. Over the years its ongoing resonance through numerous publications, exhibitions, examinations and reinterpretations has elevated the image to iconic status.[6] There are thought to be about 200 signed prints of the better-known version where the right-hand lies with fingers extended on the sand.[5]

The album contains a vintage print of the original 'Sunbaker' and 107 other vintage photographic prints taken on the 1937 camping trip by Max Dupain and Olive Cotton.[7]

Historical information

Chris Vandyke, an architect, had joined Dupain on camping trips to Culburra Beach on the south coast of New South Wales. He compiled an album of 108 original photographs by Dupain and his partner Olive Cotton. Owned by Anthony C. Vandyke and John A. Vandyke.[7]

Location history

Chris Vandyke, Anthony C. Vandyke and John A. Vandyke, State Library of New South Wales.[7]

Acquisition

Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program to the State Library of New South Wales, May 2012.[7]

See also

References
  1. The National Gallery of Australia Sunbaker
  2. Sydney Morning Herald Sun sets on Max Dupain's Sunbaker
  3. Max Dupain's favourite image not the one we think, Sydney Morning Herald
  4. Australia's most iconic photograph, 2013, Alan Davies, Curator of Photographs, State Library of New South Wales.
  5. Boy Oh Boy! Max Dupain in the Library SAFE/PXA 1951
  6. Ennis H 1991, ‘Max Dupain: photographs’, Australian National Gallery, Canberra p 18
  7. "Adlib Internet Server 5 - Details". archival.sl.nsw.gov.au.
  • online story Boy oh boy! : Max Dupain at the Library, 2014, State Library of New South Wales.
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