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On The Edge: Australian photographers of the Seventies
Australian Photography and the Philip Morris Grant 1973-1988
Gael Newton 1995
Introduction catalogue essay for the exhibition of Australian 1970s photography at the San Diego Museum of Art
Philip Morris (Australia) Limited has been involved with sponsorship of the arts in Australia since the establishment of the company in 1954. Through the sixties their activities centered on importing exhibitions of contemporary international art such as pop prints, op art and color-field painting. The Arts Grant for the purchase of Australian art was established in 1973 and dedicated to the collection of the “bold and innovative” work of young artists.
At the time, the arts in Australia were undergoing a radical change in relation to government policy. It was recognized that the arts were a vital ingredient, not just the window dressing, of national identity and should be funded accordingly. A national funding body, the Australia Council, was set up in 1973 and actively encouraged corporations to support young, contemporary Australian artists. James Mollison, who had been appointed as director of the new National Gallery of Australia (then the Australian National Gallery) in 1971, was the selector for the Philip Morris Arts Grant from 1973 to 1988.
Mollison’s passion for art is legendary. His enthusiasm and conviction that the seventies and early eighties were eras of extraordinary precocity for Australian artists propelled the Philip Morris Arts Grant, in tandem with the company’s commitment to the present and future well-being of the visual arts in Australia.
The first Philip Morris Collection was presented to the National Gallery of Australia in 1982 for the opening of the gallery building. A further collection of contemporary art produced between 1983 and 1988 was presented in 1988 to mark the Australian bicentenary. Initially, purchases through the Philip Morris Arts Grant were works in traditional fine art media. The purchase of Australian photographs began in 1976 when it became evident that so many younger artists had turned to photography. In that year 83 works by 14 photographers were acquired.
The first exhibition of photographs in the collection was held that year at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts, and the enthusiastic public response justified the inclusion of the new medium. An exhibition, Thirty-One Photographers, toured in 1977. The collection had grown to:
276 photographs by 31 photographers in 1977,
377 photographs by 67 photographers in 1978,
528 photographs by 88 photographers by March of 1979.
At this stage a major exhibition of the photographs was sent to Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne, accompanied by a handsome catalogue titled Australian Photographers: The Philip Morris Collection. A smaller show for regional galleries, titled Aspects of the Philip Morris Collection: Four Australian Photographers, was mounted by the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council in 1980.
A further 324 photographs were acquired between 1979 and 1982 when the entire collection of the Philip Morris Arts Grant (some 1,500 works in all media) was presented to the National Gallery — an important event coinciding with the opening celebrations of the new gallery’s building. Over 900 photographs by 107 photographers are held in the Philip Morris Arts Grant. Exact numbers are confused by the practice of counting some series as one work and others as individual items. A further work consisting of 42 photographs by Bill Henson and two color photographs by a young artist of the 1980s, Shayne Higson, were acquired in 1988.
It was believed at the time that the Philip Morris Collection represented most of the aspiring art photographers of the period. The majority of the photographers were based on the eastern mainland in the two largest capital cities: Sydney and Melbourne. Institutional and corporate support for photography was concentrated in these two centers, which also contained the only commercial and public galleries regularly exhibiting photography.
Of the 107 photographers,
47 were born in the 1940s — 36 of these from 1945-49;
41 were born by 1960 — with 30 born before 1955.
Seven had been born in the 1930s; eight in the 1920s; four between 1904-17.
Of the total number, 26 were women.
Some of the most prominent figures from the older generation of professional photographers from Sydney and Melbourne were also included, with small representations of their work from the 1930s to the 1960s, as well as, in the case of David Moore (who was the youngest of the group), contemporary works from the seventies. The established professionals were all men.
Most of the photographers were born in Australia of Anglo-Saxon background; several have become expatriates and a few were only temporarily resident in Australia. Several of the older generation, and two (Carol Jerrems and Melanie Le Guay) from the younger generation, are deceased.
Most continue to work in photography in the 1990s in some form although only twenty-five or so continue to exhibit regularly, with just half of these having significant current status as artists.The range of approaches taken by the photographers is varied but for the most part accord with a view that photography is best employed when the inherent “naturalism” of the medium is retained.
The term documentary or “personal documentary” was widely used, in part to distinguish work from professional illustration or older schools of reportage, and covers work which exploits the particular framing and composition of the camera to make independent “pictures” in which the original subject could be quite transformed. Few photographers totally staged their subject matter in the studio. Examples of experimental film and video art were acquired as well as works using photography by conceptual artists — but the Philip Morris Arts Grant is not a comprehensive collection of these genres.
In line with other collections assembled in the seventies, the majority of works in the Philip Morris Collection are black and white, small-scale photographs. This reflects both the ease and economy of black and white printmaking for the younger artist and the lack of equally easy and affordable quality color papers in these years (and art schools rarely provided instruction in color materials). Color photography was also associated so much with the commercial world that many photographers were disinclined to experiment on moral as well as technical grounds. Black and white photographs were seen as capable of more profound statements because of the fine tonal ranges possible in this form of printing. The overseas photographers admired in these years tended also to work in black and white.
Often a suite of related prints was acquired, reflecting the belief at the time that photography was best seen over a body of work rather than as single images. The average print prices of the seventies were modest: between A$50 and $200. Two decades later the average prices for the photographers included in the exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art are still modest by art-world standards at A$500-$1000.
Many like Grant Mudford, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1977, regard the recognition and financial aid from Philip Morris as significant in their careers.
The Philip Morris Collection was by no means the only purchaser of contemporary photography in the seventies. The state galleries in Sydney and Melbourne were slowly building their collections from the early seventies as was the new National Gallery of Australia. Other corporations, principally CSR (i.e. the Colonial Sugar Refinery — several duplicate prints from their 1978 project to document their Pyrmont refinery are held in the Philip Morris Collection) also funded contemporary photography projects in these years.
The Philip Morris Collection did not seek to be encyclopaedic and, inevitably, given the pace of acquisition, there are omissions of some prominent figures.However, the collection does represent a significant proportion of contemporary Australian photographers from the seventies.
The representation of individual photographers is concentrated on small bodies of work, from the span of a few years rather than over the decade. Few large works or complete series were acquired. The range of the collection of images is thus limited and it is necessary to draw on the larger pools of prints by all photographers of the period to mount shows defining specific aspects or themes found in photography of the period as a whole. This was the case when the National Gallery mounted the exhibition Living in the 70s: Australian Photographs in 1987 on the emergence of the new generation in this decade. The Philip Morris Collection never sought to be definitive but “to catch the wave” and be responsive to a phenomenon of the time. As James Mollison wrote in the 1979 Philip Morris publication:
In the Philip Morris photographic collection we are able to see a very important record of the moment when so many young artists chose photography as their medium. When buying the photographs we deliberately reviewed what was being purchased, buying back to provide historical context for the more recent work and concentrating purchases on those who looked best from exhibition to exhibition.
Mollison closed his introduction with the prediction: “The photographers are making the icons of our time, their future looks bright.” In general the developments in the 1980s and 1990s have justified his optimism. The exposure and encouragement provided by the Philip Morris Arts Grant was important for artists and public alike.
At an early stage in the development of the Philip Morris Arts Grant, it was envisaged that the whole collection would eventually be donated to the National Gallery of Australia. Following donation of the collection in 1982, further funds were granted to enable James Mollison to buy some 300 works by a new generation of young artists who had appeared in the early 1980s and who had elicited even greater enthusiasm on his part for their talent. These works were shown in the exhibition, A New Generation 1983- 1988, during the gallery’s program of exhibitions to mark the Australian bicentenary. By this time prints by Australian artists were being funded by a private benefactor (Gordon Darling) and the work of young
Opening ceremony for the 1988 second Philip Morris Art Grant exhibition, A New Generation 1983-1988. James Mollison, left, Gary Punch, Minister for the Arts, at microphone, Andrew Whist, Philip Morris chief, rear. Photograph: National Gallery of Australia Archives.
Australian photographers by the KODAK (Australasia) PTY LTD Fund. Nine photographs by six women who had emerged after 1980 were included in A New Generation but were not part of the Philip Morris Collection.
Once in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Philip Morris Arts Grant works appeared regularly in displays and many were lent to other institutions. A special exhibition which focused on the gift, A Decade of Australian Photography 1972- 1982: Philip Morris Arts Grant at the Australian National Gallery was shown in late 1983 and early 1984. Twenty- eight photographers (eight of them women) were included. A planned publication and exhibition on twelve photographers did not eventuate.
There is no separate published listing of the entire Philip Morris Collection of Australian Photographs in the collection of the National Gallery. However, the gallery’s Annual Report for 1982-83 provides a detailed listing of the works as accessioned from the gift.
Further Reading:
Coventry, Virginia, ed..: The Critical Distance: Work with Photography/Political Writing, Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne: 1986.
Ennis, Helen: Living in the Seventies: Australian Photographs, Australian National Gallery, Canberra: 1987.
Ennis, Helen: Living in the 70s: Photographs by Carol Jerrems, University of Tasmania, Hobart: 1990.
Ennis, Helen: Australian Photography: The 1980s, Australian National Gallery, Canberra: 1988.
Howe, Graeme, ed., Aspects of Australian Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney: 1974.
Howe, Graham, ed.,: New Photography Australia, A Selective Survey, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney: 1974.
Mollison, James, introduction to Australian Photographers: the Philip Morris Collection, Philip Morris (Australia) Limited, Melbourne: 1979.
Moore, Catriona: Indecent Exposures: Twenty Years of Australian Feminist Photography, Allan & Unwin, Sydney: 1994.
Newton, Gael: Shades of Light: Photography and Australia 1839-1988, Australian National Gallery and Collins Australia, Sydney: 1988.
Photofile, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney: 1983 - present.
Willis, Anne-Marie: Picturing Australia: A History of Photography, Allen & Unwin, Sydney: 1988.
Willis, Anne-Marie, introduction to Aspects of the Philip Morris Collection: Four Australian Photographers, Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, Sydney: 1980.
Links to pages for On The Edge:
Introduction page to the online publication
Top of this page: Australian Photographers and the Philip Morris Arts Grant, 1973- 1988.
The Soft Spread of Time: an essay about the photography and the photographers in the exhibition.
The Plates: Australian Photographers of the Seventies
The Checklist for the exhibition
Biographies of the Artists: compiled by Anne O'Hehir
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