DR JULIAN SMITH
1873-1947
Julian
Augustus Romaine Smith was born in England and moved with his family
to Melbourne as a young boy. He studied medicine
at
Melbourne University and went on to a distinguished career in
surgery.
Dr
Smith took up photography around 1925 as a relaxation from his
demanding medical practice. He was an extremely energetic
and forceful
personality and soon became a prolific exhibitor. He became
a founder member of the Victorian Salon in 1929 and a member of
the Melbourne
Camera Club, serving both societies as an official and judge
over many years.
Dr
Smith worked chiefly in portraiture and what was known as the character
study. His busy schedule made outdoor
work difficult.
Instead he had models come to the studio to be dressed up
to represent
a character type or figure from literature such as Dickens’ novels.
With
characteristic energy and inventiveness Dr Smith developed
a special printing technique to give his prints extra richness.
It is described in Jack Cato’s The Story of the Camera
in Australia (1955).
A
portfolio of reproductions of his prints titled Fifty Masterpieces
of Photography by Dr Julian
Smith was published
posthumously
in 1949.
above
text based on Gaël Newton's Silver & Grey
Angus and Roberston, Australia 1980