Max Dupain captures university life in the Cold War era

The photographs in Max Dupain: Student Life were taken at the University of Sydney in the early 1950s, a period of rapid change marked by the politics of the Cold War. Initially, Dupain’s love of architecture drew him to the campus, where he photographed modernist buildings such as the Fisher Library designed by Ken Woolley and Tom O’Mahoney. He grew to love the campus and went on to capture student life. The works in Student Life range from shots of formal dances to fiery protests opposing both communism and the McCarthy-era communist witch-hunt underway in the United States.

“These were boom years for the university, and Dupain’s candid studies reveal an increasingly diverse student body, following the post-war influx of refugees, women, and Indian and Asian students, some on the ‘Colombo Plan’ sponsoring Asian students to study in Australia,” said Ann Stephen, Senior Curator of the University Art Collection at the Chau Chak Wing Museum. 

“Dupain’s Sydney University album includes modernist aerial views of interiors, such as the Great Hall and the Union’s Holme Building, along with more informal shots from ‘Freshers’ week. There was a degree of formality, with young women dressed in skirts and heels, and the young men in suits and ties.” 

The infamous Petrov Affair of 1954 is among the events highlighted. A float in the University’s annual ‘Commem Day’ parade reenacts the dramatic moment when Evokia Petrov, a Soviet spy in Canberra under the guise of a diplomat who defected to Australia after Josef Stalin’s death, was escorted onto a plane by KGB men. Early anti-nuclear protests are also depicted on a float opposing University of Sydney Professor Harry Messel’s controversial University Nuclear Research Foundation. 

The first public exhibition of Dupain’s work in recent times, Student Life can be seen through his modernist lens, with several of the images adopting aerial perspectives emphasising geometric forms.

The exhibited prints are digital reproductions of vintage silver gelatin photographs from Sydney University album. They were donated to the University by Diana Dupain under the Federal Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 1996 and are now part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection.

Student Life is open free of charge until 29 June 2025. 

Hero image: New students signing the Matriculation Register, Chau Chak Wing Museum.