Cazneaux exhibition at National Maritime Museum

A new photography exhibition, Through a different lens – Cazneaux by the Water, featuring works by Harold Cazneaux (1878-1953) opens at the Australian National Maritime Museum on September 2.

The exhibition gives visitors an insight into this significant Australian photographer’s life. In the late 1890s Harold Cazneaux became interested in the idea of photography as art, rather than a mechanical recording process. He became its most passionate advocate here, exploring poetry, mood, atmosphere and form through his impressionistic "seeing" eye.

For more than 50 years Cazneaux’s camera captured the romance and life of the world as it changed around him.

The exhibition features more than 50 original pieces representing Cazneaux's art, many reflecting how the water and Sydney Harbour fitted within his work, his signature pictorial photographic style and his foray into modernism and abstract form.

A section of the exhibition explores Cazneaux’s interest in lost harbourscapes when some of his key waterfront compositions are juxtaposed with scenes from today taken by Australian National Maritime museum photographer Andrew Frolows, highlighting the changing face of Sydney.

Harold Cazneaux reflected on this, saying, "Whatever pictures are made of our great Sydney today will in future years have some historical interest and value. As time marches on there will always be a Sydney of yesterday."

Other photographs include his early experimentations, and poetic river and Sydney harbour scenes from 1904.

The exhibition features items from the museum’s collection recently donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Anne Christoffersen in memory of the artist and key photos and personal material on loan from the Cazneaux family.

Cazneaux by the Water is on display exclusively at the Australian National Maritime Museum from September 2, entry is free.

The Australian National Maritime Museum, in Darling Harbour, is open from 9.30am to 5pm daily. All enquiries (02) 9298 3777 or visit www.anmm.gov.au/cazneaux.