Dupain's Beaches by Jill White

Introduction by Sebastian Smee, text by Matthew Cawood. Sydney : Chapter & Verse, 2012. Quarto, boards in dustjacket, pp. 112, a new copy. Max Dupain, who took Australia’s most famous photograph, Sunbaker, loved the beach. This collection of Dupain’s photographs is, by his own admission, among his ‘best work’. In it we see Dupain’s fascination with shadows, with sand patterns, with the arcs of seascape – and above all, with the people who indulged themselves on Australia’s urban and country beaches over a period of sixty years. These images demonstrate how vital a part the beach plays in the Australian consciousness. Jill White, as custodian of Dupain’s personal/exhibition archive, offers us here the opportunity to share his vision of the beach as a place of relaxation and renewal.