CURATOR TALK: Olive Cotton and her contemporaries

Join NGA Photography Curator Anne O’Hehir for insights into Olive Cotton and her contemporaries.

Light refreshments provided. RSVP essential.

Image: Olive Cotton, The patterned road, 1938, National Gallery of Australia Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1983

About Olive Cotton and her contemporaries:

Olive Cotton (1911‒2003) is now recognised as one of Australia’s most significant photographers, especially notable for her images that draw attention to the immersive qualities of photography. Cotton began taking photographs with a Kodak Box Brownie when she was 11, and by the early 1930s was an integral member of a vibrant creative community in Sydney that included her good friend (and later husband) Max Dupain. She spent the decade making some of the most innovative photographs in the history of Australian photography, which she published and exhibited during this period, including internationally.

For the first time, this exhibition will bring together Cotton’s photographs and the work of her leading international peers. These include outstanding works from the national collection by key modernist photographers such as Dora Maar, Berenice Abbot, Lucia Moholy, Edward Weston, and Tina Modotti. These are some of the most celebrated figures in international photography, and provide a perfect context for appreciating Cotton’s great work.

Olive Cotton and her contemporaries is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition presented as part of the Bowness Family Foundation Photography Touring Program.

Terms and conditions:

• SMILE! Gallery events may be photographed, and images used for promotional purposes on Council's websites, publications, social media or by newspapers.
• If you do not wish your image (or the image of your child) to be published, please notify staff before the event.
• If you are unable to attend, please cancel your tickets as soon as possible. This will enable others to participate in the program.
• Do not attend the event if you are feeling unwell.
• Paid tickets are not transferable.

Host or Publisher Hawkesbury Regional Gallery