Frank Hurley, Four Australian troops walking over duckboards in the waterlogged fields Flanders, October 1917 (detail), Hurley Negative Collection, The National Library of Australia [nla.obj-160182782
Information for High School English, History and Visual Arts Teachers of Stage 4, 5, 6 students
We invite you and your students to come and see this very special exhibition that has close connections
to many Key Learning Areas and specific curriculum content across years 7-12.
Teachers’ Preview | Monday 16 October 5.00pm
Come and hear about the exciting educational possibilities that this unique exhibition offers you and your students.
Everyone welcome!
Downloads
Printable information sheet
Exhibition Floor Sheet
Exhibition Catalogue
Passchendaele – Photography and the Moving Image in Battle
14 October 2017- 28 January 2018
The exhibition Passchendaele – Photography and the Moving Image in Battle is part of a number of activities in Maitland marking the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War and its enduring significance to the Maitland community from 1917 to the present day.
Many men from Maitland and surrounding localities participated in Passchendaele, some as part of ‘Maitland’s Own’, the 34th Battalion, that was formed in 1916.
The MRAG exhibition includes:
– photographs of selected First World War battlefields in Flanders, Belgium, by Australian Official War Photographers, Frank Hurley and Hubert Wilkins
– controversial composite photographs of battlefields by Frank Hurley
– vintage photographs illustrating different uses of images over time
– the film Fighting in Flanders by Frank Hurley and Hubert Wilkins
– studio portraits of local Maitland residents who served at Passchendaele
– selected diary entries, letters and memorabilia of serving men of Maitland’s Own, the 34th Battalion
– individual stories of local soldiers, their families and Maitland community groups during
the First World War
with many items on loan from the Australian War Memorial, the State Library of NSW and the National Library of Australia.
Key Themes of Passchendaele: Photography and the Moving Image in Battle
– Visual engagement with the mud, horrors and sacrifice of the Battle of Passchendaele;
– Contemplation of the impact of that battle, and the First World War more broadly, on the lives of individuals through studio portraits of local men who served (and some of whom died) at Passchendaele and diary entries and letters of particular local soldiers;
– The nature of war photography demonstrated in the photographs taken by Frank Hurley and Hubert Wilkins (including the controversy around Hurley’s composite photographs) and the adaptations made to create images;
– The different ways in which war photographs, diaries, letters and other ephemera became and continue to be significant touchstones of personal and national remembering;
– The nature and purpose of studio portraits of servicemen and local photographers such as Cameron Studio] and Galloway Studios;
– The enduring importance of photographic prints of this nature as works of art on paper and where they may now reside – in gallery, library and museum collections.
Curriculum Links Years 7 – 12:
ENGLISH
– Reading, viewing, comprehending and responding to a wide range of texts in different media and technologies including diary entries and letters belonging to Charles Taylor, Maitland resident and soldier of the 34th Battalion;
– Exploring the different ways that texts (visual and verbal) can represent personal and public worlds as in images such as the studio portraits of George Simmons and his family in the context of documentary images of battlefields in and around Ypres.
– Investigating connections and relationships between and among texts by comparing Frank Hurley’s composite photographs with stills and moving images from the documentary film Fighting in Flanders.
HISTORY
– Investigating different experiences of Australians in the First World War as in the individual stories of, local soldiers who served in the Battle of Passchendaele;
– Describing the motives and actions of past people that shaped Australia as seen in the Wallabies recruiting march of 1915/1916 that led to the formation of the 34th Battalion, Maitland’s Own, amongst others;
– Identifying changes in Australian society after 1901 – the sense of nationhood and an emerging Australian identity distinct from Britain forged during war.
VISUAL ARTS
– Exploring the function of and relationships between artist-artwork-world-audience by analysing the purposes and meanings of studio portraits, documentary battlefield photographs and composite images;
– Investigating the social and political structures that can influence image making through study of war letters, diaries, ephemera and commentary of 1916-1917-1918;
– Analysing how different technologies used in image making can produce different social meanings with reference to viewpoint, framing, multiple negatives contained in single images, camera types and uses and colour versus black and white prints.
Booking Your School Visit:
Contact the art gallery at artgallery@nullmaitland.nsw.gov.au or 4934 9859 to arrange your visit.
Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm Tuesday – Sunday.
Free Entry
We look forward to welcoming you and your students to this unique exhibition!