Max Dupain and Associates records and negative archive, 1905-2011

fonds

1905-2011

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Clippings

954129

Approximately 250,000 negatives, transparencies, and photographs
Approximately 3 metres of textual material
3 Rotadex

Max Dupain (1911-1992) formed Max Dupain and Associates (MD&A) in 1941 when he went into partnership with photo-engraving firm Hartland & Hyde. With Hartland & Hyde managing the financial side, the partnership continued until 1991.

Following service in the Second World War, and commissions from the Department of Information (1945-1947), Dupain focused on architectural and industrial photography, with the company also receiving commissions for portrait, fashion and advertising photography.

MD&A employed a number of photographers and assistants over the years including Tom Balfour, Bert Brown, Olive Cotton (managed the studio 1941-1945), Jill Crossley, Patrick Crowe, Kerry Dundas, John Garth, Diane Graham, Jennifer Humphries, Clive Kane, David Moore (1948-1951), John Seymour, Eric Sierins, Jill White and John Yates. Other photographers credited in the collection but who did not necessarily work as an employee of MD&A include Stan Benson, Peter Cain, Dick Chepey, John Gollings, Marcell Seidler and Wolfgang Sievers.

Commissions were mostly received over the phone and entered into day books, some of which (1976-1992) are contained in Sub-fonds 1: Max Dupain and Associates records. As was common for the period, commissions were not put in writing and were a verbal agreement.

In 1941 Dupain moved studios from 24 Bond Street, to 49 Clarence Street in Sydney's CBD. This building was occupied by a number of creative businesses including Hartland & Hyde. In 1971 the studio moved to premises in Campbell Street, then in 1991 to Reserve Road, in Artarmon.

After his death in 1992, Dupain left equal shares in the company to his widow Diana Dupain, his long-time assistant Jill White, and his assistant photographer in the last years of his life, Eric Sierins. Sierins continued the business as the sole employee between 1992-2011, providing photographic services and images from the company's archive. The Library wholly acquired the archive in 2011.

Sub-fonds 1: Max Dupain and Associates records

Sub-fonds 2: Max Dupain and Associates negatives and transparencies

Sub-fonds 3: Max Dupain and Associates printing proofs and work prints