© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Athol Shmith
Biography
Athol Shmith (1914-1990) was a professional photographer specialising in portraiture, branching into the fashion and advertising fields after 1936.
1 portrait in the collection
Athol Shmith, 1985
Michel Lawrence
Portrait, type C photograph on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
Progressive pictures
Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017
Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.
Athol Guy
Biography
The Seekers, folk music band, formed in 1962 when jazz singer Judith Durham met Athol Guy, who sang and played bass in a folk trio with Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger.
3 portraits in the collection
The Seekers reunite 50 years on, 2011
Helen Edwards
Portrait, synthetic polymer on linen
Gift of Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The Seekers, 1993
Rennie Ellis
Portrait, type C photograph on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2005
Graham Kennedy and the Seekers in Melbourne, c. 1968
Robert Whitaker
Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2007
Great stylists: Caruso, Melba, Pavarotti, Bonynge and Sutherland, 1983
Arthur Horner
Portrait, pencil on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Eric Harding and Athol Hawke 2002
Patricia 'Bambi' Tuckwell (Shmith), c. 1952
Max Dupain OBE
Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Timothy Fairfax AC 2003
Portrait 57
Winter 2017
Magazine
The discovery of Dempsey's People, Australian rugby greats, Athol Shmith's progressive pictures, and powerful Indigenous portraits.
Max Loudon
Biography
Max Loudon was photographic assistant to, and darkroom manager for, Athol Shmith and John Cato before becoming a photographer for Rolling Stone Australia.
1 portrait in the collection
Bambi Tuckwell
Biography
Patricia 'Bambi' Tuckwell (1926-2018) was a leading Australian fashion model as well as a promising violinist.
1 portrait in the collection
Jacqueline Mitelman
Biography
Jacqueline Mitelman (b. 1952), photographer, was born in Scotland and moved to Australia with her family at the age of five.
23 portraits in the collection
Janice McIllree
Biography
Janice McIllree (nee Wakely) (1935-2022), fashion model and photographer, began her modelling career in Melbourne in 1954, having graduated from Sydney's Mannequin Academy in 1952.
4 portraits in the collection
George Nicholas CBE
Biography
George Nicholas CBE (1884-1960), pharmacist and philanthropist, grew up in South Australia and Victoria.
1 portrait in the collection
Rod McNicol
Biography
Rod McNicol (b. 1946), photographic artist, studied photography at Prahran College in Melbourne, where he formed a close friendship with Athol Shmith.
1 portrait in the collection