A companion to the State Library of Victoria's 'As modern as tomorrow' exhibition. Includes images held in our Pictures Collection and links to external sites. Explores individual photographers and photographic styles.
Like many of their generation, Melbourne-born photographers learned about new movements in photography by reading international journals and photography annuals such as Das Deutsche Litchbild (a photographic annual originally published between 1927 and 1938), Modern Photography and US Camera.
These journals embraced the aesthetics of the New Photography movement which was characterized by clean lines, bold lighting and the use of unusual camera angles to create geometric patterns and shapes.
Another important magazine at the time was the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung. This magazine came out of the Worker Photography Movement of the 1920's and 1930's, which started in Germany and the USSR and greatly influenced the international practice of photography.
European photo modernity shaped the course of photography to come. Read: Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945/ Matthew S. Witkovsky; with an introduction by Peter Demetz.
Try some of these contemporary photographic periodicals:
As modern as tomorrow: photographers in postwar Melbourne showcased striking commercial photography from the Library's collection.
Displayed with the corporate and advertising material in which they originally appeared, the photographs provided unique insights into the changing social fabric of mid-20th-century Melbourne.
Featured photographers included Maggie Diaz, Norman Ikin, Helmut Newton, Athol Shmith, Wolfgang Sievers, Mark Strizic, Dacre Stubbs and Henry Talbot.
Working in fields as varied as fashion, advertising, architectural and industrial photography, the talented group of commercial photographers had an eye for capturing images unlike anything Australia had ever seen.
The exhibition was held from 1 July 2011 to 5 February 2012.
