Monthly Archive for November, 2008

A modern tower, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

This image showing the Harry Seidler designed office tower Australia Square was taken earlier this year when our photographers were visiting sites of significance and influence during the period of modernism. We were trying to see how these sites were being used from a contemporary perspective and to reflect on any change. This was taken for our exhibition on modernism in Australia that is currently on in the Museum.

Check out this really great collaborative map of modernism in Australia that was created by Dan Hill and collaborators on Google maps. This great project features many architectural sites that represent modernism in Australia. It is well worth looking at.

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

This image comes from the David Mist photographic archive that we are highlighting at the moment. This was photographed in Paddington at an antique shop called ‘Emma Chiset’ that was situated in Thorne Street.

David has documented many aspects of Australian life and scenes in Sydney as well as being heavily involved in the fashion industry. You can hear an interview with David about his images on ABC Sydney where he talks about some of his photographs and how in some cases he would initially try to make the Sydney scene look more like London where he had worked professionally before coming to Australia.

You can see some of David’s beautiful prints at his exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney that really show a different aspect of life in Sydney.

Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved

Two women boxing, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

This great image titled ‘Two women boxing’ taken c. 1910 was added in this week’s batch to the Commons project on Flickr. It comes from the Phillips photographic collection that the museum has acquired. This collection of approximately 200 glass plate negatives appears to have be made by a photographic studio from around 1890 through to 1920. Some of the subjects in this collection include portraits, costumes, recreational activities, fencing, women boxing, the Blue Mountains and city scenes. The collection was donated by Raymond Phillips and, although not confirmed, it may be his father who was the photographer. There are some clues we have come across whilst scanning this collection that may prove this but we might let you discover these as we post more over the coming weeks. There are many people featured in these images that reappear in other scenes. Perhaps they were family members.

There is a sequel to this image ‘Two women boxing’ that I will post later but if you want to discover this yourself now you can find it in our collection search. We would love to have your feedback, information or thoughts on this new collection that we have added to the Commons.

No known copyright restrictions

Aircraft repair workshop, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

This image comes from the Clyde Engineering Company photograph collection. It shows five men at work in the aircraft repair workshop with portions of aircraft parts. This collection consists of approximately 1300 half-plate glass negatives and approximately 4000 triacetate negatives taken at the Clyde works in Granville. Some of the subjects covered in this collection include: railway locomotives and rolling stock; agricultural equipment; large engineering projects funded by Australian State and Federal governments; airplane maintenance and construction and Clyde’s contribution to the first and second World Wars.

As part of our Talks After Noon event conservator Graham Clegg is talking today about this collection and the history of the works at Granville. You will be able to see more images from the Clyde collection during the presentation. This is on level 2 from 2-3pm.

No known copyright restrictions.

Here’s one! This is not something you would normally expect to see when you attend the races. This great image comes from the David Mist photographic archive that we are highlighting on Photo of the day whilst David’s exhibition David Mist: Swinging Sydney is on until February next year. David took this photo at Randwick race course for the publication ‘Sydney, A Book of Photographs’, appearing on page 135.

David took up professional photography in the late 50s and set up a studio in London. In 1961 he came to Australia and worked prolifically in the fashion industry whilst also photographing his impressions of Sydney. He was given his first camera at the age of 13 and as a result began his life-long fascination with photography.

Photography by David Mist
© All rights reserved