Jennifer "Jennie" Boddington (née Blackwood) (1922 – 15 November 2015) was an Australian film director and producer, who was first curator of photography at the

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 ...

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 ...

(1972–1994), and

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

er.

Early life

Boddington was born in

Melbourne, Australia 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 metropol ...

in 1922. She married in the early 1940s, bearing a son, Tim in 1943. Beginning her career amongst Australia's New Wave of

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...

in Sydney, she worked as wardrobe assistant with

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

Dahl Collings on

Harry Watt Harry Watt (18 October 19062 April 1987) was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film ''The Siege of Pinchgut'' was entered into the 9th Berlin Inter ...

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

feature film ''The Overlanders'' (1946), then on eight hundred costumes for Watt's unfinished follow-up, ''Eureka Stockade'' (1948).

Training

Boddington entered the Commonwealth Film Unit in 1948 as cutting room assistant and was there for two and a half years making a lifelong friend in

Joan Long Joan Long (born Joan Dorothy Boundy; 20 July 1925 – 2 January 1999) was an Australian producer, writer and director best known for ''Caddie'' (1976). She was awarded as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980 for her services to the film ...

(scriptwriter and film producer later known for writing ''

Caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives the player advice and moral support. Description A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the ...

'' (1976) and producing ''

Puberty Blues ''Puberty Blues'' is a 1981 Australian coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, based on the 1979 novel of the same name (essentially a protofeminist teen novel) by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey. Plot The story focuses o ...

'' (1981)). In 1947/8 the Commonwealth Film Unit, part of the Australian National Film Board, had moved from 66 King Street in Sydney's CBD to 5 Condor Street in Burwood, a suburb of Sydney, into an 1879 Department of Education building, where facilities consisted of cutting rooms, a theatre, a room housing recording equipment, a camera room and office space. The Unit provided tuition that the private companies did not. Boddington trained there with important Australian and Canadian documentary filmmakers including Australian National Film Board Producer-in-Chief,

Stanley Hawes Stanley Gilbert Hawes (19 January 1905 – 19 April 1991) was a British-born documentary film producer and director who spent most of his career in Australia, though he commenced his career in England and Canada. He was born in London, England a ...

Colin Dean Colin Dean (1919-2007) was an Australian producer and director who worked in Australian TV in the 1950s and 1960s. He worked in the UK in the late 1940s, and returned to Australia in the 1950s. Select credits *''The Queen in Australia'' (1954) * ...

and Ron Maslyn Williams, and her first editing and directorial experience came in working with

John Heyer John Whitefoord Heyer (14 September 1916 – 19 June 2001) was an Australian Documentary film, documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film.''Oxford companion to Australian film'' (1999) John Hey ...

on ''The Valley Is Ours'' (1948).

Zanthus Films

Divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

d in 1950, she moved back to

and for six years scripted, edited and directed training films for the Victorian General Post Office

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

unit. In 1956, she was employed by ABC TV, where she edited reportage of the

Melbourne Olympic Games The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

, and met, then in 1958 married, cinematographer (Newcombe) Adrian Boddington (b. Kalgoorlie, 3 June 1911) and with whom she had three more sons, James (b.1959), Alastair (b.1961) and Nicholas (b.1963). Establishing together the Zanthus Films partnership, for which she reverted to her family name Blackwood, they operated from their home in

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

, producing documentaries including the BP-commissioned ''Three in a Million'' (1959), ''Port of Melbourne'' (1961), and ''You Are Not Alone'' (1961) on the then tabu subject of breast cancer and mastectomy. These titles were amongst early

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsib ...

Award winners, as was the film ''Anzac'' (1959), scripted by

Cyril Pearl Cyril Alston Pearl (11 April 1904 – 3 March 1987) was an Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality. Life and career He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria on 11 April 1904, to Jewi ...

, which pioneered the use of historical stills with rostrum camera effects.

Curator of photography

After Adrian Boddington's death at 59 in 1970, Jennie Boddington retired from active film production. She then took up the post of first full-time curator of photography for the

in 1972. She was selected from fifty-three applicants, becoming the first such curator in Australia and perhaps only the third in the world. Her selections of works for exhibition and acquisition were inclusive, not restricted only to 'art' photography, but rather emphasising its value as a medium of communication. Her appointment came at a time when the medium was becoming valuable as a collectible, and when art schools in Australia were adding diplomas and degrees in photography. Boddington devoted several exhibitions to contemporary Australian photographers including the well known and the recently discovered, giving equal billing to male and female artists; among these were

Micky Allan Micky Allan (born 1944) is an Australian photographer and artist whose work covers paintings, drawings, engraved glass overlays, installations and photography. Allan has become an influential public speaker and has been invited to be a part of ...

Jon Rhodes Jon Rhodes is an Australian photographer who has been described as a "pioneer" in "the development of a collaborative methodology between high art photography and ustralianAboriginal people living in remote communities". Rhodes' work is repr ...

Carol Jerrems Carol Jerrems (14 March 1949 – 21 February 1980) was an Australian photographer/filmmaker whose work emerged just as her medium was beginning to regain the acceptance as an art form that it had in the Pictorial era, and in which she newly sy ...

, Jillian Gibb,

Ruth Maddison Ruth Maddison (born 18 November 1945) is an Australian photographer. She started photography in the 1970s and continues to make contributions to the Australian visual arts community. Biography Maddison is an Australian photographer who now res ...

, and David Stephenson. She debuted the

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

landscape photographer Laurie Wilson, and promoted the work of the young

Bill Henson Bill Henson (born 7 October 1955) is an Australian contemporary art photographer. Art Henson has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National Gall ...

recognising his talent with his first major exhibition while he was still a student. She defended this emphasis in a response to a January 1983 article in ''The Age'' by critic Geoff Strong, writing;

...he castigates the National Gallery of Victoria for demonstrating "a reluctance to show new contemporary work, acting rather as a photographic art museum" (which is precisely what we are!). In three out of the four exhibitions for 1982, this institution showed work by living Australians, 19 in all and 11 of whom are not from Melbourne. ''Landscape, Australia'' included work by four living Australians (Mark Johnson, Sydney; Tom Psomotragos, Melbourne; Stephen Wickham, Melbourne;
Richard Woldendorp Richard Leo Woldendorp AM (1 January 1927 – April 2023) was a Dutch-Australian photographer known for his aerial photography of Australian geography. Early life Born in Utrecht in The Netherlands and brought up by his mother, a sole parent, ...
, Perth). ''Portraits by Camera'' 1 and 2 included work from the 1840s to the present day, both international and Australian, with modern examples by Ted Cranstone, Sydney;
Max Dupain Maxwell Spencer Dupain AC OBE (22 April 191127 July 1992) was an Australian modernist photographer. Early life Dupain received his first camera as a gift in 1924, spurring his interest in photography. He later joined the Photographic Society ...
, Sydney; Michael Gallagher, Perth: Anthony Green, Melbourne; Julie Millowick, Melbourne;
Max Pam Max Pam (born 1949) is an Australian photographer. Pam's first survey exhibition was held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1986, followed by a mid-career retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1991, his largest sol ...
, Sydney (resident in Brunei); Axel Poignant, London; John Radvansky, Hobart; Margaret Rich, Ballarat; Henry Talbot, Melbourne. Five of these photographers are young and might be described as contemporary. ''Honoring Trees'' included an extended work by Wesley Stacey of New South Wales, with examples by
John Cato John Chester Cato (2 November 1926 – 30 January 2011) was an Australian photographer and teacher. Cato started his career as a commercial photographer and later moved towards fine art photography and education. Cato spent most of his life ...
, Max Dupain, Anthony Green and John Wilkins aiso.

Important early Australian photography was given space, including that of

Fred Kruger Fred Kruger (born Johan Friedrich Carl Kruger, 18 April 1831 – 15 February 1888) was a German-born photographer noted for his early photography of landscape and indigenous peoples in Victoria, Australia. Migration to Australia from Germany ...

whose prints and glass plates were brought to the curator by his descendants, and also the Antarctic photographers

Frank Hurley James Francis "Frank" Hurley (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces durin ...

and

Herbert Ponting Herbert George Ponting, FRGS (21 March 1870 – 7 February 1935) was a professional photographer. He is best known as the expedition photographer and cinematographer for Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pol ...

. Boddington's experience as a documentary film researcher and scriptwriter enabled some original insights in publications;

Russell Drysdale Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954. He was i ...

's use of colour photography as an aide-mémoire was posited in an exhibition she curated in 1987, and in her catalogue essay, which reveals in previously unknown photographic imagery this method of working and Drysdale's expressive stylisation in interpretation of colour, subject matter and specific locations. In her role Boddington toured Europe, London and America in 1975, meeting photographers

André Kertész André Kertész (; 2 July 1894 – 28 September 1985), born Andor Kertész, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition (visual arts), composition and the photo essay. In the early y ...

and

Bill Brandt Bill Brandt (born Hermann Wilhelm Brandt; 2 May 1904 – 20 December 1983)Paul DelanyBill Brandt: A Life was a British photographer and photojournalist. Born in Germany, Brandt moved to England, where he became known for his images of British ...

as well as

John Szarkowski Thaddeus John Szarkowski (December 18, 1925 – July 7, 2007) was an American photographer, curator, historian, and critic. From 1962 to 1991 Szarkowski was the director of photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Early life and ca ...

, director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, an experience that influenced her ideas about curatorship, and leading her to decide that the acquisition of important overseas material should become a priority. To this end, South African

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

photographer

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and the equally controversial Czech

Jan Saudek Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter. Jan Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Jan was considered a disturbed artist and oppres ...

were given major exhibitions (which were amongst these photographers' first shows internationally) and their works purchased, during Boddington's tenure.

Later life

Returning to Sydney in 1994 at age 72, Boddington went on to work as a free-lance researcher, cataloguing the files and photographic archives of ''

Walkabout Walkabout is a rite of passage in Australian Aboriginal society, during which males undergo a journey during adolescence, typically ages 10 to 16, and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months to make the spiritual and traditiona ...

'' and other collections in The Mitchell Library, and contributing to the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography''. She died on 15 November 2015, in Melbourne.

Publications

* National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & Sun News Pictorial (1972). ''Fifty years of press photography, 1922–1972''. ational Gallery of Victoria elbourne, Vic.* YWCA (Australia) & Boddington, Jennie (1975). ''Woman 1975''. East Melbourne * Beaton, Cecil Sir & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1975). ''Cecil Beaton's camera''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne * Boddington, J. (1 January 1975). J. W. Lindt, photographer (1845–1926). Art Bulletin of Victoria / Publ. by the Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, Victorian Arts Centre, 23–27. * Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1976). ''Modern Australian photographs : 28 April-27 June 1976''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne * Borcoman, J., Jack, R. I., Boddington, J., Turner, P., Gaskins, B., Howe, G., Brown, J. L., ... Maynard, M. (1977). ''Photography in Australia: A conference on photography as communication medium and art form.'' Sydney: University of Sydney, Dept. of Adult Education. * * Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1978). ''Antarctic photographs, 1910–1916 : Herbert Ponting Scott expedition (1910–13), Frank Hurley Mawson expedition (1911–13), Shackleton expedition (1914–16)''. Sun Books, South Melbourne, Vic * Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1978). ''Six series''. National Gallery of Victoria, elbourne, Vic * Boddington, Jennie (1978). ''Laurie Wilson's landscapes and Jon Rhodes' Australia : Photography Gallery, June 7''. National Gallery of Victoria, [s.l* National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1979). ''Australian photographs from the collection''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne * Hurley, Frank, 1885–1962 & Ponting, Herbert, 1870–1935 & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1979). ''Antarctic photographs, 1910–1916''. London [etc.] Macmillan * Ponting, Herbert & Hurley, Frank, 1885–1962 & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1979). ''1910–1916 Antarctic photographs : Scott, Mawson and Shackleton expeditions''. Macmillan, South Melbourne, Vic * Boddington, Jennie & National Gallery of Victoria (1980). ''Micky Allan : Botany Bay today : Jillian Gibb : One year's work''. The Gallery, Melbourne * National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & Wilson, Laurie, 1920–1980 (1982). ''Laurie Wilson''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne *Boddington, J., & National Gallery of Victoria. (1983). ''In the lucky country: Panoramas by Jillian Gibb, Anthony Green and Merryle Johnson : Photography Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1 June-18 September 1983''. Melbourne: The Gallery. * Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1983). ''International photography : 100 images from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria''. The Gallery, elbourne* National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1984). ''International photography : selected from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria''. The Gallery, Melbourne * National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– (1984). ''Architecture and photography 1848–1982 : photographs from the collection''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne * National Gallery of Victoria & Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & Art Gallery of Ballarat (1985). A''ustralian landscape photographed : an exhibition of photographs from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria''. National Gallery of Victoria, elbourne* Boddington, Jennie, 1922– & National Gallery of Victoria (1987). ''Australian contemporary photographers : John Anthong Delacour, Peter Elliston, Jillian Gibb, Ruth Maddison, David Stephenson and Stephen Wickham''. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne * Boddington, Jennie & Drysdale, Russell Sir, 1912–1981 & National Gallery of Victoria (1987). ''Drysdale, photographer''. National Gallery of Victoria, 1987, Melbourne * Boddington, Jennie & State Library of Victoria (1989). ''The new art : photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877)'', La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria : Fox Talbot and the invention of photography. State Library of Victoria, elbourne, Vic.* Boddington, J. (2002). 'Wilson, Lawrence George (1920–1980)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wilson-lawrence-george-12048/text20421, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 10 June 2015. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, (MUP), 2002

Films (selected)

*Blackwood, J., & Australia. (1952). ''Jonathan's project''. Australia: Postmaster General's Dept. An account of telephone services in country and city as seen through the eyes of a schoolboy doing a school project. * Martin-Jones, J., Blackwood, J., & Australian News and Information Bureau. (1952). ''Apples for export'' Australia: News and Information Bureau roduction company * Blackwood, Jennie & Boddington, Adrian & BP Australia & Zanthus Films (1959). ''Three in a million''. Zanthus Films, Melbourne, Vic. The story of three of the million migrants who reached Australia after the end of the war. An Italian boy in Melbourne, an Englishwoman on a South Australian farm, and a German scientist working on the Snowy Mountains scheme; all of them, in their different ways, contributing to the development of their adopted country. (Winner 1960

AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...

Award for Documentary film. Included in the 1959

MIFF MIFF may refer to: Film festivals * Listapad, aka Minsk International Film Festival, held each November in Minsk, Belarus *Maine International Film Festival, held in Waterville, Maine *Melbourne International Film Festival, held in Melbourne, Aus ...

, Programme 22 ). * Fenton, Peter & Pearl, Cyril. (Writer of accompanying material) & Marks, Herbie. (Arranger) & Powell, Moray. (Commentator) & Boddington, Adrian. (Producer) & Blackwood, Jennie (Director), et al. (1960). ''Anzac''. Zanthus Films roduction company Australia. (27 min.) : sd., b&w ; 16 mm. * Blackwood, J., Boddington, A., Armstrong, B., Badger, H., Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria., & Zanthus Films. (1961). ''You are not alone''. Anti-Cancer council of Victoria. A woman reports a suspected cancer early and undergoes a successful operation. * . (Second, Bronze 1962

Award for Public Relations film) (27 min.) : sd., col. ; 16 mm.

(29 min.) : sd., b&w ; 16mm * Blackwood, Jennie & Boddington, Adrian & Zanthus Films (1963). ''Sweet Are The Fruits'', Zanthus Films, Melbourne, Vic. (Honourable Mention 1963

Award for Public Relations film).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boddington, Jennie Australian curators Australian photographers Photography academics 1922 births Australian women curators Australian film directors Australian women film directors Australian women film producers 2015 deaths Photography curators Historians of photography Film directors from Melbourne