View from east, Rose Seidler House
Max Dupain

1988
hand-printed black and white photograph
94 x 94 cm framed

Description
Hand-printed, black and white photograph by Max Dupain of Rose Seidler House, Wahroonga. The house is shown from the front with the front door, side ramp and glass walls of the bedrooms visible. The print is framed in thin, pale wood without a mount.

Significance statement  
This picture marks the first time that renowned Australian photographer Max Dupain photographed Rose Seidler House. Significantly, it also records the moment that the Historic Houses Trust (HHT) assumed stewardship of this influential Modernist house. The photograph is one of a series by Max Dupain of Rose Seidler House. In this picture, Dupain accentuates the house’s strong Modernist lines, achieving a contrast between the stark white of the building and the tonal qualities of the leafy bush landscape.

History
In January 1988 Harry and Penelope Seidler gifted Rose Seidler House and its contents to the state as a house museum to be managed by the HHT. The HHT commissioned Max Dupain to take a series of photographs in secret of the house. A complete boxed set of 13 photographs was presented to Harry Seidler to mark the occasion of the gift. The HHT also printed a number of identical photographs for its own collection at this time, including this work.

Maker biography
One of Australia’s foremost photographers, Max Dupain (1911–1992), began his working life in commercial photography. He was one of the first to adopt the principles of new ‘modern’ photography from Europe that emphasised strong light. For over 50 years Dupain recorded Sydney’s built environment, landscape and people, leaving an extraordinary photographic legacy. Many of his images have come to embody an Australian identity and way of life. Often working in black and white, Dupain embraced unusual perspectives in his quest to capture the modern era.

Museum number
HHT2006/2

Image credit
Jenni Carter

Bibliography  
Davies, Alan, Max Dupain's Australians, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 2003
Dupain, Max & Dupain, Rex, Inside Sydney: photographs by Max and Rex Dupain, New Holland Publishers, Frenchs Forest, 2004
Dupain, Max, Max Dupain's Australia, Viking, Ringwood, Vic, 1986
Newton, Gael, Max Dupain, David Ell Press, Sydney, 1980
White, Jill, Dupain's Sydney, Chapter & Verse, Neutral Bay, NSW, 1999