CANBERRA.- A new exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia featuring two of modernist photography’s giants – Max Dupain and Ansel Adams: in search of perfection – has begun its two-year tour in Tasmania.
In an Australian-first, Max Dupain and Ansel Adams: in search of perfection brings into dialogue works by Australian photographer Max Dupain (1911-1992) and American photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984). Drawn from the national collection, the touring exhibition showcases iconic photographs such as Dupain’s Sunbather, 1937 and Adam’s Moon and Half Dome, 1960, alongside lesser-known masterpieces by the influential 20th century photographers.
This National Gallery Touring Exhibition is connecting Australians through the Art Across Australia program. The national tour of Max Dupain and Ansel Adams launches on Saturday 21 March 2026 at Burnie Regional Art Gallery in Tasmania and through the support of the Bowness Family Foundation Photography Touring Program, it will then travel to Bayside Regional Gallery in Victoria and Logan Art Gallery in Queensland.
Dupain is best known for his modernist images of Australian culture from the 1930s, but from the 1950s, his work is defined by photographs of buildings—particularly his collaborative practice over almost four decades with modernist architect Harry Seidler. Adams’ highly recognised photographs of the American West have been rarely shown in Australia. They reflect the powerful and complicated story of colonial ambition and came to play a significant role in the preservation of many of the wilderness areas he photographed.
Placing Dupain’s architectural studies of Australia alongside Adams’ American landscapes, the exhibition reveals how both photographers sought to define national identity through photography. Dupain captured the spirit of a newly modern Australia, while Adams elevated the American landscape into a site of the spiritual sublime.
The exhibition includes 63 works, featuring Dupain and Adams alongside contemporaries such as Olive Cotton, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, David Moore, and Annie W Brigman. It begins by showing the origins and development of Dupain’s and Adams’ photographic practices, before focussing in on their mature work, bringing together photographs that share an uncannily similar approach to image-making and to the rapidly changing world around them.
Anne O’Hehir, Curator, Photography, National Gallery: ‘Though working on opposite sides of the Pacific, Dupain and Adams shared an unwavering commitment to technical mastery, clarity of vision and the pursuit of photographic excellence. The result was some of the most emblematic photographs of the 20th century—making Dupain and Adams among the few photographers in history to become household names in their home countries.’
Dr Nick Mitzevich, Director, National Gallery: ‘Max Dupain and Ansel Adams transformed the way we see the world through photography. Thanks to the generous support of the Bowness Family Foundation, this National Gallery Touring Exhibition presents the work of these two luminaries in a dialogue with each other in a world-first, exclusively for regional communities.’
