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Max DUPAIN

Ashfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 1911 – Castlecrag, New South Wales, Australia 1992


Sunbaker 1937
Culburra, New South Wales, Australia
Photography, Photograph, gelatin silver photograph
Primary Insc: signed & dated recto, l.r., pencil, "- Max Dupain '37 -" titled & signed verso, pencil, "Sunbaker 1937/- Max Dupain -"
printed image 38.6 h x 43.4 w cm
sheet 52.8 h x 55.0 w cm
Framed 891 h x 655 w x 40 d mm
Purchased 1976
Accession No: NGA 76.54

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Sunbaker was taken while he was on holiday at Culburra, on the New South Wales South Coast, in 1937, a year of popular optimism before the War.

The sunbaker is completely relaxed and at one with the land. He lies with his back exposed to the sun, seawater and sweat sparkling on his skin. Dupain used a low-angle shot, which transforms the simple shapes of the man’s oval head and triangular torso into a mountain-like outcrop set against the horizon.

This image was inspired by the work of European modernist photographers, who were more interested in exploring abstract form than in making descriptive photographs.

Sunbaker has become a national image. The classical simplicity of the figure replaces the cliches of athletic masculine imagery.


Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010