Henry Talbot, born Heinz Tichauer (6 January 1920,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– 1999) was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his long association with the Australian fashion industry, particularly the

Australian Wool Board The Australian Wool Board was an Australian Government statutory board that existed in its first phase between May 1936 and January 1945; in its second phase between June 1945 and June 1953; and in its third and final phase, between May 1963 and ...

Life and career

Born in Germany to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, he studied graphic design at the

Reimann School The Reimann School of Art and Design was a private art school which was founded in Berlin in 1902 by Albert Reimann, and re-established in Regency Street, Pimlico, London in January 1937 after persecution by the Nazis. It was the first commercia ...

in Berlin.Robert McFarlane, "Obiturary, Henry Talbot, Photographer", ''The Age'', Mon, Feb 1, 1999, p.16 Henry first travelled to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

under pressure from rising tensions. There he worked as a window-dresser at a department store. After the '

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

', Henry's father Max was detained, but having won the Iron Cross in WWI, Max was released, and subsequently Max and his wife fled to Bolivia. In England, Henry was interned as a German National by two plainclothes policemen and later shipped to Australia on the

Dunera HMT (Hired Military Transport) ''Dunera'' was a British passenger ship which, in 1940, became involved in a controversial transportation of thousands of "enemy aliens" to Australia. The British India Steam Navigation Company had operated a prev ...

. During his internment in Hay in New South Wales, Henry practiced his artwork and studied in the camp 'university' established by the internees. Upon release in 1942, Henry joined the Australian Army, in which he served until 1946, loading and unloading goods trains at the New South Wales / Queensland border, where he established a close personal friendship with fellow German refugee

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...

. After the War Henry refreshed his studies of graphic design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Henry then visited his parents in Cochabamba, Bolivia, practicing art and reviving his pre-war interest in photography, winning a local photography prize.

Professional photographer

Returning to Australia in 1950 Talbot worked as a photographer, setting up a

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

studio in 1956 with Helmut Newton a fellow refugee whom he had met while fruit picking in

Tocumwal Tocumwal ( ) is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Berrigan Shire local government area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne ...

after his release from internment. The studio specialised in fashion and advertising. During this time, Helmut declared to Henry that he was "going to move to Europe and become the greatest photographer in the world", and asked Henry if he would look after the studio in his absence. Henry agreed. Helmut left Australia permanently in May 1961, opting out of the informal partnership with Talbot (paid out with ‘two thousand dollars and two cameras’), and established himself in Europe while Henry took over the business of a company named ''Helmut Newton & Henry Talbot Pty Ltd'' which was formally registered as a company 28 June 1963 and operated at

Bourke Street Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and tr ...

until April 1966, when it moved to

La Trobe Street La Trobe Street (also Latrobe Street) is a major street and thoroughfare in the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of Melbourne's central business district. The street wa ...

, operating until 1976. Talbot photographed various Australian Olympic figures, including gold medallist

Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle. ...

in the Olympic pool in Melbourne during 1956;

Franz Stampfl Franz Ferdinand Leopold Stampfl MBE (born Vienna 18 November 1913 – died 19 March 1995 Melbourne) was one of the world's leading athletics coaches in the twentieth century. He pioneered a scientific system of Interval Training which became ver ...

, whom he knew through the Hay internment and who trained

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

for his four-minute mile record; and Gael Newton. Other famous Australian models included Penny Pardey and Judy O'Connell, house models for

Pierre Cardin Pierre Cardin (, , ), born Pietro Costante Cardino (2 July 1922 – 29 December 2020), was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometric shap ...

, in 1967. During this period he was commissioned by the

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

, Vanity Fair, Kent Cigarettes and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, among other brands.

Teaching, exhibiting

Henry became Head of the Photography Department at the School of Art and Design at Preston (later Phillip) Institute of Technology, Melbourne (1973–1985), employing and teaching with younger photographers Mark Strizic and with Carol Jerrems, who also modelled for him. In 1972, Talbot jointly showed these images of Jerrems, including some nude portraits and figure studies, alongside the work of 23-year-old Jerrems', in ''Two Views of Erotica – Carol Jerrems & Henry Talbot'', which was the inaugural exhibition of

Rennie Ellis Reynolds Mark Ellis (11 November 194019 August 2003) was an Australian social and social documentary photographer. He also worked, at various stages of his life, as an advertising copywriter, seaman, lecturer, television presenter and founder of ...

' Toorak gallery '' Brummels'' (Australia’s first dedicated photography gallery). The show was opened by photographer/filmmaker Paul Cox. Ellis, a notorious provocateur, selected Talbot and Jerrems to attract attention to the new gallery.

Later life

Talbot moved to Sydney with artist and mathematician Lynette Mortimer, whom he had married in 1974, and sons (Neale and John-Paul), in 1985. His later projects included studies of the nude, portraits of prominent Australian Jews and also modernist architect

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the B ...

and revisiting the sites of the Holtermann photographs taken at and around the historic township of Hill End, located in the gold fields district of New South Wales. Henry Talbot died in 1999 from cancer, shortly after revisiting the places of his youth in Europe.

Recognition

Shortly after his death, the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) instituted the Henry Talbot Award for Services to the Photographic Industry.

Awards

* 1958 Fashion Photographer of the Year, Australian Fashion News * 1963 C.S. Christian Trophy, Australian Photographic Society * 1965 A.P.R. Achievement in Photography Award * 1967 Award of Distinction, Pacific Photographic Fair * 1968 Distinctive Merit Award, Art Directors Club of Melbourne * Awarded E (Excellence) by Honours Committee of Federation internationale de l'Art Photographique.

References

External links

Australian Powerhouse Museum Fashion From Fleece

Strange Glamour: fashion and photography from the MGA collection

A fine yarn: from function to fashion

Australian Institute of Photography

Australian Postal History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Henry Australian photographers 20th-century Australian photographers Fashion photographers 1920 births 1999 deaths Reimann School (Berlin) alumni Australian Jews People interned during World War II 20th-century photographers German emigrants to Australia