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Henry Talbot Photographic Archive

Object No. 93/246/1

This is the photographic archive of a prominent Australian commercial and fashion photographer who worked in Australia (mainly Melbourne) after arriving in Australia aboard the 'Dunera' in 1940 as a refugee from Germany and the UK . Background: Henry Talbot was born in Germany in 1920. He attended the Reimann School in Berlin where he received training as a graphic designer. Before the outbreak of the second World War in 1939 he emigrated to England where he continued studies at the Birmingham College of Art till, in June, 1940, he was interned as a German National and sent to Australia aboard the infamous prison transport ship, "Dunera". From 1942-1946 he served in the Australian Army. It was around this time that he took up professional photography and in 1947 left Australia to visit his parents in Bolivia. While there, he set up a small painting and photographic studio in the city of Cochabamba and in 1949 won a gold medal in the Bolivian Photographic Salon. Establishing a career in Australia: Talbot returned to Australia from Bolivia in 1950 and worked in various studios in Melbourne as printer and photographer (including Peter Fox Commercial Photography Studio) with a brief stint in Sydney in 1953. In 1954 La Trobe Studios offered him a position in commercial photography after Hans Hasenpflug left that firm. Two years later Helmut Newton, a rising fashion photographer and a close personal friend of Talbot's since his time in the army, offered him a partnership in a photographic studio which became known as Newton & Talbot. In 1959 Talbot went on an extended overseas trip returning in 1960. Shortly afterwards Newton decided to move to Europe permanently. Clients: Talbot worked for all the major fashion and advertising firms of the time, including: The Australian Wool Board, Fibremakers, Banlon, Kayser, Prestige and Hilton Hosiery, Sportscraft, and Fletcher Jones. He also did work for General Motors Holden photographing cars for their catalogues. His fashion photography appeared in well known magazines such as Vogue and Flair in Australia, and Harpers Bazaar in England and Jardin des Monde in France. Other well known photographers associated with the Talbot studio included; David Meldrum, John Garrett, Graeme Harris, Graham Nicholson, and Desmond Williams. Teaching: In 1973 the newly established School of Art and Design in the Preston (Later Philip) Institute of Technology, offered Talbot the position as Head of the Photography Department where he remained until 1985, retiring as Senior Lecturer. Shortly afterwards he moved to Sydney with his wife Lynette, whom he had married in 1974, and two sons. Awards: Gold medal, Bolivian Photographic Salon, 1949 Fashion Photographer of the Year Award by Australian Fashion News, 1958 C.S.Christian Trophy of Australian Photographic Society, 1963 A.P.R. Achievment in Photography Award, 1965 Award of Distinction Pacific Photographic Fair, 1967 Distinctive Merit Award, Art Directors Club of Melbourne, 1968 E (Excellence) Award by Honours Committee of Federation internationale de l'Art Photographique. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator (with Peter Arfanis) 1993-2013 Further reference: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ebooks/HenryTalbot/index.php?chapter=3

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Summary

Object Statement

Archive, commercial and fashion photography, Henry Talbot and others, Australia/ Europe/ USA/ Asia, 1938-1985

Physical Description

Archive, commercial and fashion photography, Henry Talbot and others, Australia/ Europe/ USA/ Asia, 1938-1985 Archive of commercial and fashion photography, mainly by Henry Talbot, including (-1) fashion magazines and clippings containing photographs by Talbot, 1959-1984 (-2) information and advertising, booklets, reports and catalogues containing photographs by Talbot, 1957-1971 (-3) advertising posters, point of sale displays and packaging, 1960s-1970s (-4) Newton & Talbot promotional posters, 1960s (-5) biographical material, 1960s-1970s (-6) photographs and colour transparencies - automobiles, 1960s-1970s (-7) photographs and colour transparencies - fashion, 1950s-1970s (-8) photographs and colour transparencies - miscellaneous, 1960s-1980s, and (-9) graphic design work, 1938-1947.

PRODUCTION

Notes

Henry Talbot (1920-1999) Henry Talbot was born in Germany in 1920 and studied graphic design at the Reimann School in Berlin before fleeing Germany just prior to the outbreak of WWII. Interned as a German National in London in 1940, he was transported to Australia aboard the infamous prison transport ship the 'Dunera'. He served in the Australian Army from 1942 to 1946 where he met and established a close personal friendship with fellow German refugee, the renowned international photographer Helmut Newton, with whom he later shared a photography studio in Melbourne. After the war, Talbot refreshed his studies of graphic design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology before travelling to Bolivia to be reunited with his parents. It was in Bolivia (1947-1950) that Talbot turned to photography. Talbot photographed Olympic gold medallist Dawn Fraser in the Olympic pool in Melbourne during 1956 and Australian models Penny Pardey and Judy O'Connell, house models for Pierre Cardin, in 1967. Talbot later became Head of the Photography Department at the School of Art and Design at Preston (later Phillip) Institute of Technology, Melbourne (1973 - 1985). He moved to Sydney with his wife and sons, Neale and Jean-Paul, in 1985. Talbot's later projects included studies of the nude, portraits of prominent Australian Jews (including modernist architect Harry Seidler) and revisiting the sites of the Holtermann photographs taken at and around the historic township of Hill End, located in the gold fields district of New South Wales. Henry Talbot passed away in 1999 after revisiting the places of his youth in Europe.

HISTORY

Notes

Personal archive of photographer, Henry Talbot.

SOURCE

Credit Line

Gift of Lynette Talbot, 1993

Acquisition Date

6 July 1993

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