"I
would like my pictures to reflect a little of the respect
I have for great masters of the past, at the same time
as celebrating the mystery of ambiguous elements which are
often embedded in photographs." David Moore 1997
(edited
version of a Art Gallery of NSW Press Release)
David
Moore's career spanned the age of the picture magazines (for
example: Life, Time, The Observer) through
to major commissions
such as the Sydney Opera House, CSR (Colonial Sugar Refinary)
and self initiated projects
like To build a Bridge: Glebe Island.
The
breadth and depth of Moore's career means that the Art Gallery
of NSW has an extraordinary archive
of material which describes and interprets
the last 50 years of Australian life, the life of the region,
and events in Britain and the United States. This selection
from the Art Gallery of New South Wales' collection of 260
photographs is a tribute to the life and work of one of Australia’s
most influential photographers. Included are experiments
from early in Moore’s career, portraits of the humble,
the famous, and artists in their studios, life and landscape
in
remote regions, and documentation of the detritus of daily
life.
Some
of Moore’s most important images are included:
Redfern Interior 1949, Sisters of Charity, Washington DC
1956 and Migrants arriving in Sydney 1966.
David
Moore was instrumental in advancing Australian photography
throughout his career and
in the early 1970s was active in
setting up the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
In 1994 he was awarded an Australian Artists’ Creative Fellowship.
He
exhibited in London, Paris, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong
and New Zealand, as well as throughout Australia. His photographs
are included in major collections throughout the world
including The National Gallery of Australia, The Museum of
Modern Art, New York, Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
DC.