CECIL.
W. BOSTOCK
1884-1939
This text from the Media Release for the 2005 exhibition at theLady Denman Museum, Huskisson. (NSW South Coast)
SHADOWS of WAR: Cecil Westmoreland Bostock – Aritist/photographer
Photos & Sketches from the 1910s and 20s.
Lady Denman Heritage Complex, Huskisson. (NSW South Coast)
7th October to 27th November 2005
Well known Australian photographer, Max Dupain, wrote of Bostock as his former teacher:
I was apprenticed to Cecil Bostock for 3 years. This very thorough craftsman and the study of his exacting and original methods formed a solid background for my future work and development. It was a tortuous experience for such a sensitive fresher, but in spite of the financial depression, the mercurial temperament of Bostock, and the moral and physical struggle to reconcile my psychology with his, I came good and owe a great debt to him. Max Dupain
Pictorial and photographic works by one of the founding figures in Australian photographic history, Cecil Westmoreland Bostock, will be on exhibition at the Lady Denman Gallery, Huskisson, from the 7th October to 27th November.
The exhibition features Bostock’s works from the World War I period and is curated by his granddaughter, Lea Hallet-Cannon. Bostock was one of the founders of the Sydney Camera Circle, a group of photographers who met at his commercial art studio to plan photographic exhibitions and expeditions around Sydney. One of the co-founders of this group was another well known early 20th century photographer, Harold Cazneaux.
Mrs Hallett-Cannon said that her grandfather was among the first to present photography as an art form, where the photo was valued for its own pictorial merits and not just as a historical record. Bostock was also a skilled bookbinder and calligrapher. His catalogue of work included a commission to document the building of David Jones, Sydney, mapping of Sydney Harbour and binding books for the Prince of Wales.
The exhibition at the Lady Denman will include the originals of World War I sketches, done in the field using whatever materials he had in hand such as paper bags, scraps of paper, envelopes. It will also include published works and photographs.
Max Dupain was Bostock’s apprentice from 1930 to 1933 and they had a mutual influence over each other’s work. Dupain’s son, artist Rex Dupain, will open the exhibition at the Lady Denman, 14th October at 5pm.
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