Wheel of
Youth
- "Place all your effort, not in mere
technique, but more so in the perfection of the art of selection and creative
ideas in subject matter. Remember, too, that imagination also is necessary to
focus those pictures in your mind".
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- Harold Cazneaux replies, 1952
NLA MS
5955
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The outbreak of World War II meant another
slow-down in Cazneauxs studio. His work for The Home magazine has
been much reduced since 1934 when Fairfax and Sons Ltd. purchased Art in
Australia Ltd. from Sydney Ure Smith and began to trivialise the content. The
magazine finally ceased publication in 1942 under rationing pressure and
falling sales. Cazneaux now turned his attention to portrait work, particularly
of soldiers and their families:
"Those portraits meant a good deal to all
those who were concerned and it was good to put all ones artistry and
skill into such work".
Harold Cazneaux replies, 1951 NLA MS
5955
Then in 1941, the war disrupted family life at
Ambleside and tragedy soon struck. The Cazneauxs twenty-one year
old son Harold was killed in the defence of Tobruk. Cazneaux was shattered; he
never quite recovered from the loss.
Professionally Cazneaux realised he was being
overtaken by new trends within the photographic world. Pictorial photographcy
was being overshadowed by the extremes of Modernism and Cazneaux showed little
or no interest. As a consequence although he continued his studio work, much of
the last decade of his life, was spent rediscovering his own early work.
Retiring gracefully, he made bromoils and added to his extensive collection of
exhibition prints.
In the early 1950s, the photographer and
author Jack Cato had approached Cazneaux as part of his research for his book
The Story of the Camera in Australia (1955). As a result, Cazneaux and
Cato corresponded regularly. Their letters gave Cazneaux a rare means of
reflection on his own life as a photographer and provided the modern researcher
with important insights into Cazneauxs aesthetic.
In 1952 Cato hosted a Harold Cazneaux tribute
evening that had been organized by Keast Burke and Charles Walton. Magic
lantern slides were accompanied by a recorded commentary between Cazneaux and
photographer Monte Luke. The evening was a testament to Cazneaux as a great
Australian photographer and toured the east coast of Australia. The following
year Cazneaux died aged seventy-five.
"A machine camera age has arrived - the
pictorial movement is no more. Hundreds are doing the same sort of thing in the
same way. The quality and texture of the photographic print has vanished
hundreds and hundreds of photographers produce prints which on the exhibition
walls just become a one man show by everybody. Few workers can be spotted on
the wall by individual works of character in subject and quality of print
the romance and the spirit of the pictorial movement is no more, this no
lament, its the truth!"
Harold Cazneaux replies, 1951 NLA MS
5955
In hindsight, the end of the one photographic
movement and the beginning of another have had no impact on the lasting
originality of Harold Cazneauxs photographic work.
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Natures Armature c. 1935 Sydney. Gelatin
silver photograph 32.7 x 26 (NLA Accession # C15-2)
nla.pic-an2381204 |
The
Wheel of Youth 1929 Dee Why, Sydney. Chloro-bromide 34.8 x
28.3 (NLA Accession # C15-13) nla.pic-an2383705 |
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Aerial
Antics 1930 Manly, Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph 32.5 x
29.8 (NLA Accession # C15-8) nla.pic-an2383687 |
Razzle
Dazzle c. 1909 Bondi, Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph 16.3
x 22.7 (NLA Accession # C23-5) nla.pic-an2383966-1 |
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The Life
Class 1931 Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph 24.1 x 34.7
(NLA Accession # C21-6) nla.pic-an2383936-1 |
Julian
Ashton, the Art Class c. 1920 Sydney. Gelatin silver
photograph 30.9 x 22.1 (NLA Accession # C22-9)
nla.pic-an2383959-1 |
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Rainy Day aka
Dawn on a Rainy Day 1910 Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph
(Kodura Etching Brown) 29.5 x 22.8 (NLA Accession # C16-3)
nla.pic-an2383802 |
The Quest
1910 Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph (Kodura Etching Brown)
33.3 x 26.4 (NLA Accession # C16-1) nla.pic-an2383799-2 |
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Anna Pavlova
1926 Sydney. Chloro-bromide 26.7 x 22.6 (NLA Accession #
C20-4) nla.pic-an2383908 |
Dame Nellie Melba
1921 Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph 34.9 x 25.5 (NLA
Accession # C20-1) nla.pic-an2720602 |
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The Etching Press
aka Pulling the Proof 1918 Sydney. Bromoil 35.7 x 27.8
(NLA Accession # C21-8) Gayfield Shaw, artist and etcher. nla.pic-an2383940 |
Hans
Heysen 1935 Hahndorf, SA. Gelatin silver photograph 37.7 x
30.3 (NLA Accession # C21-7) nla.pic-an2383938 |
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Norman Lindsay
c. 1921. Bromoil 31.2 x 26.7 (NLA Accession # C22-7) nla.pic-an2383957-1 |
The Parasol aka
The New Sunshade 1921 Sydney. Gelatin silver photograph
34 x 28.8 (NLA Accession # C19-9) nla.pic-an2383893-1 |
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Autumn Leaves aka
Portrait in Sunshine 1931 Sydney. Gelatin silver
photograph 34.1 x 27.1 (NLA Accession # C19-3) nla.pic-an2383883 |
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