Surf Race Start, c1940s/printed later
Titled, signed and dated in pencil on image lower right; estate stamp verso signed by Rex Dupain.
Provenance
Dupain Estate
Rex Dupain, the artist’s son Private collection, Sydney
Image size: 35 × 37.5 cm
Framed size: 64 x 53.5 cm
Condition
Slight colour variation and retouching to image
Max Dupain’s Australia, edited Jill White, Viking, p.144
Considered one of Dupain’s iconic images of the Australian beach. An earlier scene by Dupain, Manly (1938) (Newton 1980), shows an objective aerial shot of swimmers enjoying the day, but in Surf Race Start Dupain partakes of the action as the male lifesavers step high through the waves as they challenge themselves against nature and each other to run then swim the course. This photograph by Max Dupain is one of his best known. Taken at Newport Baths on Sydney’s northern beaches, it encompasses the “Australianness” that Dupain became known for. A beach lover himself, Dupain shows a natural affinity for the coastal landscape and an intimacy with those swimmers who also embraced it. A related work, Surf Race Start (1940), inscribed and dated ‘SURF RACE 1938’ lower left, has appeared at auction.
$11,000
In stock
