Francis Reiss (1927 – 4 December 2017) was an Australian photographer, born to Danish parents in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. He was best known for his work for ''

Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. ...

'' and ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazines.

Early life

Reiss was born in 1927 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany to Danish parents. He began taking photos as a child. The family moved to the United Kingdom in 1936. There he attended

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

, and began taking photos.

Career and death

Reiss began working for ''Picture Post'' magazine in the UK at the age of 17, the youngest staff photographer employed by them. ''Picture Post'' published over 60 picture stories by him. In 1947, Reiss sailed for New York and immediately started working extensively for ''LIFE'' magazine. In 1950, realising he had gone stale Reiss quit photography, and entered the wool trade. Not until 1993, ten years after migrating to Australia and receiving a chance commission from

James Mollison James Mollison (20 March 1931 – 19 January 2020) was acting director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) from 1971 to 1977 and director from 1977 to 1989. He was director of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1989 to 1995. Ea ...

did he return to photography. Reiss died on 4 December 2017 at the age of 90.

Collections

His works are held in a number of collections: *

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

National Portrait Gallery (Australia) The National Portrait Gallery (NGPA) in Canberra is a public art gallery containing portraits of prominent Australians. It was established in 1998 and moved to its present building on King Edward Terrace in December 2008. History In the earl ...

Jewish Museum of Australia The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum, aims to "explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia". It is located in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne. History The Jewish Museum of Australia was estab ...

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

Monash Gallery of Art The City of Monash is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5 square kilometres and a population of 200,077 people in 2016. Demographics Monash has a diverse pop ...

Mitchell Library (Australia) The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is set ...

City of Whitehorse The City of Whitehorse is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018, Whitehorse had a population of 176,196. Whitehorse was formed in December 1994 by the amalgamat ...

art collection

Exhibitions

His work has been exhibited at a number of galleries in Australia, including one-man shows at: *

Bendigo Art Gallery Bendigo Art Gallery is an Australian art gallery located in Bendigo, Victoria. It is one of the oldest and largest regional art galleries. History The gallery was founded in 1887. The gallery's collection was first housed in the former Bendigo ...

* Whitehorse Art Space and in group exhibitions at: *

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

Publications

His work has appeared in the following publications: * ''Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology'' * '' Overland'' magazine * ''

Bystander Bystander may refer to: In media * ''Bystander'' (novel), a 1930 novel by Maxim Gorki * ''Bystander'' (magazine), was a British weekly tabloid magazine *''Guilty Bystander'', a 1950 independent film production * ''Innocent Bystanders'' (film), ...

'' magazine

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Francis English photojournalists Australian photojournalists Picture Post photojournalists English people of Danish descent Australian people of Danish descent People educated at Oundle School British emigrants to Australia 1927 births 2017 deaths