For the last few days I have been posting a few poems by two of my favourite Australian poets C.J. Dennis and Henry Lawson.Australia has also had brilliant photographers such as Max Dupain, best known for his work in photographing Australians. Many of his photographs have been described as "iconic" and tomorrow I may introduce you to"The Sunbaker".
Tonight however, I have chosen "Jean with wire mesh" taken in 1937.
The subject of the photo is Jean Bailey, a precocious and slightly "scatty" young lady much in demand as a nude model (no I wont be posting those!). When this photo was taken she was known as Jean Lorraine and regarded as Dupain's muse.
The photographic curator at the New South Wales State Library had this to say about the photo,
"It's not enormously erotic but it is incredibly sensual, masterful in its use of light and shade. To photograph someone with her forehead in full sunlight and the rest of her figure cloaked in shadow is an extraordinary technical achievement. Most photographers would regard it as professional suicide. They wouldn't attempt it."
Back in 2003 the Sydney Morning Herald, interviewed Jean in Virginia, she was then 86 and had lived in the U.S. since 1947.
Bailey remembered little about the precise circumstances in which it was shot.
"It was one of those times with Max when he just said 'Let's try something different'." He was always experimenting. He would always tell me beforehand what he was hoping to get out of a shoot."
It was Olive Cotton, Dupain's assistant (and later his second wife) who had suggested Bailey as a possible model in 1935. Cotton had noticed a photograph of the 18-year-old in Women's Weekly and asked her to come to their studio. The first encounter between the two women was embarrassing. Cotton complimented Jean on her trim figure and remarked that she was trying to lose a few pounds. The precocious teenager, already married and divorced, said "That's just puppy fat. I worried about that when I was your age."
"How old do you think I am?" asked Cotton. "Sixteen," said Bailey. Cotton laughed and said, "I'm 26."
Another of Dupain's models made headlines in the United Kingdom during the 60s. Patricia "Bambi" Tuckwell, became front page news in both Britain and Australia when she was named as the Other Woman in the celebrated divorce of George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, the Queen's cousin and (at that stage) 18th in line to the throne.
Tuckwell and Lascelles had already had a son together - Mark, who was specifically excluded from the succession because of his illegitimacy. Their subsequent marriage, on July 31, 1967, required the Queen's consent - and paved the way for future royal remarriages.
Till tomorrow...
...Wherever you may be - be safe
