Alison Duff

item details

NameAlison Duff

ProductionSteve Rumsey; photographer; 23 September 1970; Auckland

Classificationportraits, black-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: 503mm (height), 404mm (length)

Registration NumberO.027685

Credit linePurchased 1998

Overview

This black and white photographic portrait of sculptor Alison Duff was taken by Steve Rumsey in 1970. Duff is photographed standing among her sculptures in the garden of her house and studio in Onewa Road, Northcote, Auckland. The photograph was commissioned by New Vision Gallery, Duff's dealer gallery in Auckland, for the front cover of her exhibition catalogue.

Standing sculptures
Alison Duff is an arranged photograph directed by Rumsey. He suggested that Duff stand among her art works in the garden because he wanted to emphasise that the sculptures were life size, as well as capturing something of the atmosphere and environment of her studio.

Professional photography
Rumsey established Photo Associates Limited in 1965, and he quickly became a leading photographer of artists and craftspeople in Auckland. New Vision Gallery, one of the leading dealer galleries of the period, was a regular client, and Rumsey took photographs of many of the notable artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s as illustrations for their exhibition catalogues. Pat Perrin in studio (1967) is another photograph in Te Papa's collection which was commissioned for a New Vision Gallery catalogue cover. Rumsey photographed artists and craftspeople in both a professional and personal capacity, and his photographic archive is therefore one of the most comprehensive documentaries of the Auckland pottery and craft scenes in the 1960s and 1970s.