Ostrich (Barry Brickell)

item details

NameOstrich (Barry Brickell)

ProductionSteve Rumsey; photographer; 1971; Coromandel

Classificationblack-and-white prints, gelatin silver prints, black-and-white photographs, works of art

Materialsphotographic gelatin, silver, photographic paper

Materials Summaryblack and white photograph, gelatin silver print

Techniquesblack-and-white photography

DimensionsImage: 380mm (height), 253mm (length)

Registration NumberO.027681

Credit linePurchased 1998

Overview

This black and white photograph shows the potter Barry Brickell leaning head first into one of his coiled pots. It was taken by Steve Rumsey in 1971 at Brickell's Coromandel railway (a model railway which people could ride on) and studio. One of a number of photographs of Brickell in Rumsey's archive, this particular image was part of Rumsey's extensive photographic documentation of artists who were also his friends.

A chance photograph
Ostrich (Barry Brickell) is somewhat different to Man and atom (Barry Brickell), another of Rumsey's photographs of Brickell in Te Papa's collection. While neither was commissioned by outside parties, Man and atom (Barry Brickell) tackles the theme of Atomic Energy and is part of a series of photographs that Rumsey took in the 1950s and early 1960s that illustrated ideas. 'Ostrich (Barry Brickell)' is more playful. The photograph documents a moment when Brickell, taking this oversized pot to the kiln, realised that it needed a hole in the base so that water could drain away. Rumsey, always able to identify a good photographic opportunity, captures Brickell in action, seemingly swallowed by his ceramic creation.

Images of artists
Rumsey photographed artists and craftspeople in both a professional and personal capacity, and his photographic archive is one of the most comprehensive documentaries of the Auckland pottery and craft scenes in the 1960s and 1970s. Ostrich (Barry Brickell) is one of a number of Rumsey's photographs of potters owned by Te Papa, and the collection includes such notable artists as Len Castle, Patricia Perrin, and Peter Stichbury.