Jacqueline Mitelman Explained

Jacqueline Mitelman
Birth Name:Jacqueline MacGreggor
Birth Place:Scotland
Known For:Photography

Jacqueline Mitelman is an Australian portrait photographer.

Early life and education

Jacqueline Mitelman was born Jacqueline MacGreggor in Scotland in 1948, and has since lived in Melbourne and in France for a few years. She was briefly married to Polish emigrant the painter/printmaker Allan Mitelman. She studied for a Diploma of Art and Design at Prahran College of Advanced Education 1973-76, where her lecturers were Athol Shmith, Paul Cox, and John Cato.

Career

After graduation, Mitelman practiced as a freelance photographer specialising in portraiture for magazines including the trendsetting POL, and newspapers,[1] album and book covers, and for theatre and music posters. During her career she has sought out Australia's significant writers, artists and personalities for her subjects, thus creating a valuable pantheon of the country's culture.

One hundred and twenty appear in her 1988 book Faces of Australia was work previously exhibited at The Art Gallery, Prahran,[2] to a lukewarm review from Age reviewer Greg Neville who while conceding that they were "professional and respectable," considered them "commercial portraiture in the sixties style, all grain and contrast, dressed up with just the right dose of Bicentenary sentiment," work that "tells us no more about the famed sitters than we already know, and nothing about the artist.[3] Tom Fantl prefaced his review of the book with the statement that in portraiture "the surface physical features are descriptive but not all telling. It is the personality and psyche which the creative artist must explore, capture and relate. It is the inherent character which the viewer is urged to see, thereby seemingly establishing an understanding, almost a relationship, with the individual portrayed." He concludes that;

Mitelman's approach is classical and explorative. Classically her sitters look directly into the camera lens, and hence at us, (eg Harry Siedler), thereby drawing us into their space and time. By carefully positioning her subjects, yet making them appear spontaneous we feel watched even as we do the watching.
Terry Lane, with the arrival of the internet nevertheless questions the value of such 'coffee-table' books as Mitelman's, even in the prior age of television, other than as 'time capsules'; "No one ever looks at it, which is a pity because I am in it."[4]

The National Portrait Gallery holds twenty of her photographs[5] including those of Dorothy Hewett, Helen Garner, Judith Wright, Jack Hibberd,[6] Peter Carey, Michael Leunig, Christina Stead,[7] Brett Whiteley, Germaine Greer, Ruby Hunter, Murray Bail,[8] Alan Marshall, Kylie Tennant, Susan Ryan, Ita Buttrose, Max Dupain and Lily Brett.[9] Her depiction of Miss Alesandra[10] won the Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait prize,[11] for which she received $25,000 provided by Visa International. Mitelman says of her approach[12] that;Of Mitelman’s portraits of dogs when displayed at Waverley City Gallery (Monash Gallery of Art), critic Anna Clabburn wrote;

As with American photographer Bill Wegman's much earlier portraits of his pet weimaraners, there's much to be learnt from Mitelman's comic-yet-serious transposition of dogs into human guise. The anthropomorphic quality of her subjects is both inviting and vaguely disturbing, and certainly makes us think more deeply about our relationship with the beasts we so easily call "pets'[13]

Exhibitions

Awards

Collections

Publications

Notes and References

  1. Helen Disney, Gail Bateman, Elizabeth Seddon (1996) 'Healthy Families and Relationships', in
  2. Book: Mitelman, Jacqueline . Faces of Australia . 1988 . Lothian . 0-85091-343-8 . Melbourne . 27577980.
  3. News: Neville . Greg . 18 November 1988 . Photography . 14 . The Age.
  4. News: Lane . Terry . 14 November 1998 . Postscript . 119 . The Age.
  5. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman: 'Buddha-nature'. National Portrait Gallery. 2020-01-26.
  6. Hibberd, J. (1995). A conversation with Jack Hibberd.[Interview by Lochner, Juliane.]. Antipodes, 9(2), 131.
  7. Hill, B. (2017). Dark star. Meanjin, 76(4), 134.
  8. Costello, M. (2017). Abu Ben Bail: a creative writer reads Murray Bail’s archived correspondence. Mosaic: an interdisciplinary critical journal, 50(3), 91-105.
  9. News: Murdoch . Anna . 30 August 1986 . A child of survivors looks back in awe . 143 . The Age.
  10. News: Fierce, elegant gaze wins over portrait prize judges - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). ABC News. 24 February 2011 . 2020-01-26.
  11. O'Riordan, M. Wonders in portrait land:[National Photographic Portrait Prize.]. Photofile, (87), 38.
  12. Waters, A., & Mitelman, J. (2019). Available natural light. Australian Rationalist, The, 113, 25.
  13. News: Clabburn . Anna . 20 January 1999 . Posing pooches with an urban attitude . 17 . The Age.
  14. Web site: A Dog's Life. Gallery. Hamilton. www.hamiltongallery.org. 2020-01-26.
  15. Web site: Smith St portraits. www.heraldsun.com.au. 2020-01-26.
  16. News: 8 January 1999 . Top Dogs . 40 . The Age.
  17. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman. Design and Art Australia Online. January 26, 2020.
  18. News: 1989-12-17 . Guide to antiquarian books now available . Canberra Times . 2023-03-24.
  19. News: 18 November 1988 . Photography . 50 . The Age.
  20. News: Advertisement . 16 June 1984 . Heidi Gallery . 169 . The Age.
  21. News: Gilchrist . Maureen . 26 July 1974 . Art . 6 . The Age.
  22. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman, b. 1952. National Portrait Gallery people. 2020-01-26.
  23. Web site: Trove search results for 'Jacqueline Mitelman' - Pictures, photos, objects. Trove. en. 2020-01-26.
  24. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman photograph collection. Academy Library, UNSW Canberra Special Collection MSS 249. 2020-01-26.
  25. Web site: Jacqueline MITELMAN Artists NGV. www.ngv.vic.gov.au. 2020-01-26.
  26. Web site: Portrait of artist James Gleeson by Jacqueline Mitelman in the Collection, Art Gallery NSW. Art Gallery NSW. 2020-01-26.
  27. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman portraits in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. State Library of Victoria.
  28. Web site: Portraits by Jacqueline Mitelman in the Heide collection. Heide Museum of Modern Art. en. 2020-01-26.
  29. Web site: Jacqueline Mitelman in the MGA collection. Monash Gallery of Art. en. 2020-01-26.
  30. Web site: Collections. Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre. 2020-01-26.
  31. News: Fantl . Tom . 1990-03-02 . Books Australian faces . 24 . Australian Jewish News . 2023-03-24.

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