Axel
Poignant was born in England of Anglo-Swedish descent and was subsequently
educated in both countries. Between 1922-26
he worked
in Sweden as a sea cadet and then in the Forestry Department. Poignant
arrived in Sydney during the Depression and worked as a general
farm hand and “humped his bluey” as a swagman around
the countryside when out of work.
A
chance commission to do a photographic portrait revived Poignant’s
earlier interest in photography and led to him earning a living
taking portraits at home. In 1930 Poignant moved to Western Australia.
Once
there he became involved with a group of naturalists, including
Vince Serventy, Alec and Katherine King and Norman Hall. He also
became
friends with Hal Missingham, and with a group of naturalists
made a film on the life of the fairy penguin.
In
1939 Poignant was able to join an expedition along the Canning
stock route. A long drought had ended and the bush was transformed
into renewed life by the rain.
The expedition confirmed Poignant’s
involvement with naturalist photography. He felt as if he had
been “ .
. . reborn - an Australian” and resolved to communicate
some of the qualities of his adopted land through his still
and film work.
Prior
to enlisting for war service, Poignant was able to show
his new work in a joint exhibition with Hal Missingham in
Perth in
1940.
Both
photographers were stimulated by the documentary film movement
of these years and sought realism and social awareness
in their
work.
Poignant’s Aboriginal madonna and child study
(plate 98, May, 1938) was taken on the Canning stock route
expedition and reflected the extension
of his concern for the outback and its Aboriginal people.
His commitment to the documentary movement was strengthened
in 1945 by the opportunity
to work with British documentary film maker Harry Waft,
who was in Australia making The Overlanders - a story of
droving
up north. Over
the next seven years Poignant returned many times to the
Northern Territory to record the land and its people on
film and stills.
In
1946 Poignant was cameraman on the film Albert Namatjira, The Painter,
for the Department of Information,
following
in 1949 with
a documentary on the life of the kangaroo, releasing
the film in 1954 as Down in the Forest. His first book was
published in 1948
entitled Bush Animals of Australia.
During
1951-52 Poignant gained valuable experience as an assistant to
Life magazine photographer
Fritz Goro,
then
on assignment
to cover Australia.
Poignant then undertook to record
the Aboriginal communities
at Liverpool River before a planned government station
brought drastic changes to the old ways of living.
This work led
to the publication
in 1957 of Piccanniny Walkabout - a pioneering effort
using dramatic documentary photographs for children’s
books.
On
his return to Sydney Poignant found there were few publishing outlets
in Australia for his documentary
work. He participated
in the “Six Photographers” exhibition
in Sydney in 1955. The year after. Poignant returned
to
Europe again working on documentaries
and children’s films for television.
In
the 1960s Poignant worked chiefly as a photo-journalist
for The Sunday Times magazine, The Guardian, The
Observer and The
Geographical. From 1965 he concentrated on children’s
book illustration: Improbable Kangaroo was published
in 1965 (republished as Animals
of Australia in 1967).
Kaleku (New Guinea) in 1972,
and Children of Oropiro (Polynesia) in 1976. All
these were done in collaboration
with his wife Roslyn - an anthropologist.
Their
most recent work culminated in an exhibition of
photographs
from the archives of the
British Royal Anthropological Institute. He has
also donated a body of his anthropological work
to the
National Library of Australia,
Canberra.
Poignant’s career exemplifies the
socially concerned generation of photographers
who lived through the Depression. In photo-journalism
they found a sense of affirmation for the future
by the dramatisation
of their present.
