POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

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Unmounted photographic prints by Bruno Benini

Object No. 2009/43/1-3

Born in Italy, Bruno Benini migrated to Australia with his parents in 1935, and established a career as a photographer from the 1950s. Along with Wolfgang Sievers, Mark Strizic, Henry Talbot, Helmut Newton and David Mist, he became one of a group of influential emigre commercial photographers working in post-war Australia. The Museum acquired his photographic archive in early 2009, and this series of photographic prints form an important component of that archive. The series was mostly produced during the years Bruno worked out of his McKillop Street studio in the Melbourne CBD, some for display in the foyer of the studio. The series includes personal photographs (Venice), but also photographic portraits of Australian and international designers, actors, musicians, artists, dancers, etc who popped into Bruno Benini's studio to have their portraits taken (eg portrait of Lillian Wightman the owner of the Le Louvre, the portriat of soul singer Lovelace Watkins and portrait of artist Greg Irvine). Portraits of African and Afro-Americans feature prominently as Bruno developed a reputation for being able to photograph them well. He appears to have enjoyed listening to their human stories as he made them relax in preparation for his photographic sessions. Fashion shots representive of Hazel and Bruno Benini's close involvement with Australian, and in particular Melbourne, fashion and dress manufacturers and retailers are represented, together with photographic prints documenting international fashion labels launched onto the Australian market - like Fiorucchi from Italy, and Nike fashion from the 1990s. Commercial shots of food taken for the Italian festival and photographs of jewellery add another dimension to the series. This unmounted blow-ups print series forms part of the over 200 large format photographic prints (vintage and more recent prints) in the archive. these in turn relate directly to other parts of the collection eg the smaller reference prints, the thousands of colour transparencies and black and white negatives, and the biographical material like tear sheets, awards, magazine and newspaper cuttings etc - all dating from the 1950s through to the photographer's death in 2001. Printed by Bruno and collected by Bruno and his wife Hazel Benini, some of the prints record Hazel and Bruno's working lives together - Bruno as a commercial and fashion photographer, Hazel as a fashion publicist, display stylist and advertising and marketing consultant. Australian fashion models feature prominently in this series - Jill Hamilton, Robin Fong, Kissane Codrington, Jenny McKenzie and others. Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator.

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Summary

Object Statement

Photographic prints (30), unmounted blow-ups, black and white (17) and colour (13), photographs by Bruno Benini, with tear sheet (1), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1955-2000

Physical Description

Photographic prints (30), unmounted blow-ups, black and white (17) and colour (13), photographs by Bruno Benini, with tear sheet (1), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1955-2000

HISTORY

Notes

This object is part of the Bruno Benini photography archive which was acquired by the Powerhouse Museum with the assistance of the Australian Government's National Cultural Heritage Account in 2009. If Bruno Benini particularly liked a shot he'd taken, he would make a print or as Hazel Benini recalled, 'create a blow-up and then put it up on his studio wall'. The walls of the studio foyer were covered with these, mostly 20 x 24 inch, prints. Some of the prints were damaged over the years and thrown out, however many remain, some with corner pin holes intact. The Benini archive contains photographs showing how the Benini's displayed these prints in the foyer of the studio. These may be some of those prints.

SOURCE

Acquisition Date

19 June 2009

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