Australian photographer Max Dupain (1911 – 1992) may be best known for his iconic photograph Sunbaker (1937), but he was also a pioneer of modernism in Australian photography. Together with his personal and professional partner Olive Cotton, Dupain memorably embraced the early 20th century artistic movement’s clean lines, geometric compositions, dramatic angles and lighting in his work.
Dupain was also drawn to Surrealism, an interest that was consolidated when he reviewed a monograph by the American born, Paris-based photographer Man Ray (1890 – 1976), Photographs by Man Ray 1920 – 1934. Thereafter he began to utilise Surrealism’s collage techniques and sometimes startling juxtapositions in both his personal and commercial work, including the use of solarisation, double exposure and photomontage.
Today (Wednesday 11 June), Heide Museum of Modern Art announced the forthcoming exhibition Man Ray and Max Dupain, which brings the pair’s contemporaneous photographs together from 6 August to 9 November 2025. The exhibition marks the first time in Australia the pair’s photographs have been shown together, and includes such key works as Man Ray’s Noire et Blanche (1926) and Larmes de Verre (1932), alongside Dupain’s Solarised Hands and Flowers (c1934) and Torso in the Sun (1941).
It also considers the artists’ creative and romantic partnerships, Man Ray with Lee Miller (previously surveyed at Heide in 2023/4), and Dupain with Olive Cotton, revealing how these collaborations shaped their respective oeuvres and emphasising the often unsung contribution of women artists to Surrealism and artistic innovation.
Featuring over 200 works, Man Ray and Max Dupain focuses on the artists’ respective engagements with Surrealism, and has been curated by Emmanuelle de l’Ecotais, Man Ray historian and Artistic Director of Photo Days, Paris, and Lesley Harding, Artistic Director of Heide Museum of Modern Art.
“Man Ray was a revolutionary,” says de l’Ecotais. “His radical approach to photography, embracing chance, accident and abstraction, redefined the medium. Seeing how these ideas echoed and evolved in the work of Max Dupain reveals an intriguing cross-cultural story of modernism and artistic rebellion.”
Harding adds: “This exhibition continues Heide’s commitment to contextualising Australian artists within broader international modernist movements. In bringing together the contemporaneous work of Man Ray and Max Dupain, we illuminate a fascinating dialogue of influence, experimentation and artistic vision.”
Man Ray and Max Dupain is showing at Heide Museum of Modern Art from 6 August to 9 November 2025.
