Ruth Hollick

Ruth Miriam Hollick (17 marzo 1883 - 7 aprile 1977) è stata una fotografa australiana di ritratti e di moda ed è stata uno dei principali fotografi pittorici di Melbourne negli anni '20.

Educazione e vita personale
Ruth Miriam Hollick è nata nella zona di Williamstown a Melbourne, in Australia, nel 1883, l'ultima di 13 figli di Harry Ebenezer Hollick, un funzionario statale, e Frances Jane (Cole) Hollick. È cresciuta nel sobborgo di Moonee Ponds e ha studiato alla National Gallery of Victoria Art School (1902-06), dove uno dei suoi insegnanti era il pittore Frederick McCubbin, ma non ha ricevuto alcuna formazione formale in fotografia.

La sua compagna professionale, Dorothy Izard, era anche la sua compagna di vita.

Carriera fotografica

Ci sono prove che Hollick stava sperimentando la fotografia in una camera oscura nel 1907. L'anno seguente, si era già imposta come fotografa freelance girando le zone rurali dello stato di Victoria, realizzando ritratti di famiglie, in particolare di bambini. Ha lavorato per lo più all'aperto in luce naturale con una telecamera da campo. Durante la prima guerra mondiale, si appassionò alla fotografia in studio, inizialmente lavorando all'interno della casa dei suoi genitori a Moonee Ponds e successivamente passando nell'ex studio di Mina Moore nel centro di Auditorium Building, per poi espandersi ulteriormente in Chartres House. Fu in questo periodo che Hollick sviluppò una reputazione per l'uso abile dell'illuminazione sia naturale che in studio e per composizioni stilose, spesso ponendo i suoi soggetti su uno sfondo semplice. Si è specializzata in ritratti di personaggi e celebrità della società, oltre che di fotografia di moda da utilizzare nella pubblicità. Ad esempio, ha scattato diverse foto dell'aviatore americana Amy Johnson nel suo tour mondiale del 1930, incluso il ritratto ufficiale australiano. Per la maggior parte degli anni 1920, Hollick è stato uno dei due principali fotografi di Melbourne, insieme a Pegg Clarke, e ha esposto il suo lavoro sia a livello locale che internazionale. Durante questo periodo ha vinto almeno sei premi d'argento e numerosi premi di bronzo in varie esposizioni. Le sue fotografie sono state regolarmente pubblicate su Art in Australia e su altre riviste australiane. Negli ultimi anni, il suo lavoro è stato incluso in almeno due mostre su larga scala di fotografia australiana.Hollick lasciò i suoi studi in centro durante la Grande Depressione tornò a lavorare da Moonee Ponds. Si ritirò dalla fotografia nel 1950 e morì nel 1977 a Sandringham.

Miss Jocelyn Purves Smith

1923

Ruth Miriam Hollick (17 March 1883 – 7 April 1977) was an Australian portrait and fashion photographer who was one of Melbourne's leading Pictorialist photographers during the 1920s.

Education and personal life

Ruth Miriam Hollick was born in the Williamstown area of Melbourne, Australia, in 1883, the last of 13 children of Harry Ebenezer Hollick, a civil servant, and Frances Jane (Cole) Hollick. She was raised in the suburb of Moonee Ponds and educated at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School (1902–06), where one of her teachers was the painter Frederick McCubbin, but she received no formal training in photography.
Her professional partner, Dorothy Izard, was also her life partner.

Photography career

There is evidence that Hollick was experimenting with photography in a home darkroom by 1907. The following year, she set herself up as a freelance photographer who toured rural areas of the state of Victoria, making portraits of families, especially children. She worked mostly outdoors in natural light with a field camera.
By World War I, she had shifted into studio photography, initially working out of her parents' house in Moonee Ponds and later moving into Mina Moore's former studio in the Auditorium Building downtown, subsequently expanding still further into Chartres House. It was in this period that Hollick developed a reputation for skillful use of both natural and studio lighting and for stylish compositions, often setting her subjects against plain backgrounds. She specialized in portraits of society figures and celebrities, as well as fashion photography for use in advertisements. For example, she took several pictures of the American aviator Amy Johnson on her 1930 world tour, including the official Australian portrait.
For most of the 1920s, Hollick was one of Melbourne's two leading photographers, along with Pegg Clarke, and she exhibited her work both locally and internationally. During this period she won at least six silver awards and numerous bronze awards in various shows. Her photographs were regularly published in Art in Australia and other Australian magazines. In recent years, her work has been included in at least two large-scale exhibitions of Australian photography.
Hollick gave up her downtown studios during the Great Depression and returned to working from Moonee Ponds. She retired from photography in 1950 and died in 1977 at Sandringham.

Selected exhibitions

The Paris End: Photography, Fashion & Glamour (2007; National Gallery of Victoria touring exhibition)
Masterpieces of Australian Photography (1989)
Amateur Photographer Overseas Exhibition, London (1932)
Melbourne Exhibition of Pictorial Photography (1929: only woman in show)
Chicago Photographic Exhibition (1927)
Colonial Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (1925, 1927)
London Salon of Photography (1920)

Collections

Hollick's glass plate negatives and original prints are held in collections of the following institutions:

Ruth Hollick Collection, State Library of Victoria (500 photos)
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales

St Thomas' Grammar School opened in 1906, and these buildings in 1910. Reference The Argus 4 April 1910 pge 8. (Thank you Alex Bragiola for that reference.) Photographer: Ruth Hollick

St Thomas' Grammar School. The teacher on the left is Thomas Gresham Robinson, the principal from 1909. H2004.61/208 courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection. Photographer: Ruth Hollick

This photograph of the St Thomas' Grammar School cadets was taken in the vicinity of the Burke and Wills tree circa 1910. From the State Library of Victoria Collection, H2004.61/235. Photographer Ruth Hollick.

St Thomas' Grammar pupils playing tennis on the courts which were on the corner of Pascoe Vale Road and Kellaway Avenue, circa 1910. The houses behind the tennis courts are in Pascoe Vale Road. H2004.61/233 Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. Photographer: Ruth Hollick.

Puppies [Miss Elmslie], 1911, glass negative

Ruth Hollick in 1916.

Ruth Hollick, Moonee Ponds, 1918. From the collection of Lenore Frost

Ruth Hollick, Nellie Melba and grand-daughter Pamela Armstrong' 1918
Gelatin silver photograph. Collection: National Gallery of Australia

No title (Young girl holding a doll)
(1920s)

Untitled (Two young boys)
(1920s)

Ruth Hollick, Child Fashion Illustration from 'The Home' December 1920,
Gelatin silver photograph, printed 1997 from an original negative. A set of prints from the negatives held by the National Gallery of Australia is being deposited with the State Library of Victoria.