Bruce Postle: Image Maker

A new exhibition opening in Melbourne this week showcases the remarkable images of one of Australia's best-known photojournalists.

Bruce Postle, one of Australia’s most celebrated photojournalists, has taken many iconic images in his 27 years as a photographer with The Age newspaper. Now, a new exhibition, which opens at Monash Gallery of Art on May 11, is set to showcase more than 50 humorous, profound and moving images from the career of this master storyteller.

Bruce Postle: Image Maker includes some of Postle’s most famous images such as the ‘one-take’ shot of Bert Newton receiving a kiss from Mohammed Ali during the 1979 Logies despite Newton’s controversial gaff, "I like the boy".

Many Australians will recognise Postle’s photograph of trainer Tommy Woodcock with his horse Reckless on the eve of the Melbourne Cup in 1977, an image that speaks volumes about the relationship between man and horse. Other iconic pictures include Postle’s remarkable 1986 photograph of the then Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Patrick McCaughey, standing in the gallery in front of an empty space where Pablo Picasso’s painting The Weeping Woman had once hung, as well as portraits of the key political players from the past 40 years including Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and John Gorton.

The exhibition is at the Monash Gallery of Art (860 Ferntree Gully Rd, Wheelers Hill, Victoria) from May 3 to 30 June 2013.


Ali and Newton,  1979. Photo by Bruce Postle.



NGV Director, Patrick McCaughey (Picasso theft), 1986. Photo by Bruce Postle.



Former Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam and John Gorton, Lakeside Hotel, Canberra 1980. Photo by Bruce Postle.

Lunchtime at Borthwicks Meatworks, 1971. Photo by Bruce Postle.



Losing a fight with bushfire, 1981. Photo by Bruce Postle.