Olive Cotton

(Australia 11 Jul 1911–27 Sep 2003)

Title

Tea cup ballet

Year

circa 1935

Media category

Photograph

Materials used

gelatin silver photograph

Dimensions

37.3 x 29.6cm image; 38.0 x 30.2cm sheet

Signature & date

Signed l.r. sheet., pencil "Olive Cotton". Not dated.

Credit

Gift of the artist 1980

Accession number

218.1980

Location

Not on display

Further information

'This picture evolved after I had bought some inexpensive cups and saucers from Woolworths for our studio coffee breaks to replace our rather worn old mugs. The angular handles reminded me of arms akimbo, and that led to the idea of making a photograph to express a dance theme.

When the day’s work was over I tried several arrangements of the cups and saucers to convey this idea, without success, until I used a spotlight and realised how important the shadows were. Using the studio camera, which had a 6 ½ x 4 ½ inch ground glass focusing screen, I moved the cups about until they and their shadows made a ballet-like composition and then photographed them on a cut film negative. The title of the photograph suggested itself.

This was my first photograph to be shown overseas, being exhibited, to my delight, in the London Salon of Photography in 1935.' Olive Cotton 1995 1

Olive Cotton and Max Dupain were childhood friends and, although she graduated in English and mathematics from the University of Sydney in 1934, her interest in photography led her to work in Dupain’s studio from this year. Cotton was employed as a photographer’s assistant in the studio, however she worked assiduously on her own work and continued to exhibit in photography salon exhibitions. ‘Tea cup ballet’ is one of Cotton’s most well-known photographs and yet it is somewhat eccentric to her main practice, being at first glance typically modernist with its dramatic lighting and angular shapes. Her longstanding interest in organic forms provides a deeper reading. The abstraction of form by the lighting and the placement of the cups and saucers enables the relationship to dancers on a stage to become clear.

1. Ennis H 1995, ‘Olive Cotton: photographer’, National Library of Australia, Canberra p 25

Bibliography (11)

Janet Hawley (Author), Artists in conversation, Richmond, 2012, xxiv (colour illus.), 395, 398, 399, 400, 401.

John McPhee (Author), Great collections, New South Wales, 2008, 100 (colour illus.).

7079 (Editor), Photography: Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, 2007, 137, 141 (illus.).

Natasha Bullock (Australia) (Curator), Soft Shadows and Sharp Lines: Australian photography from Cazneaux to Dupain, Domain, 2002. no pagination or catalogue numbers

Helen Ennis (Australia) (Author), Olive Cotton, Domain, 2000, 4, 16, 20, 22, 24 (illus.). cat.no. 7

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 203 (illus.).

Deborah Edwards (Australia) (Author), Daphne Wallace (Australia, b.1964) (Author), Margo Neale (Australia) (Author), Victoria Lynn (Australia) (Author), Sandra Byron (Australia) (Author), Review: works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 1995, 17 (illus.).

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 39 (illus.).

Josef Lebovic Gallery (Australia, estab. 1977) (Author), Helen Ennis (Australia) (Author), Masterpieces of Australian Photography, Sydney, 1989, 142, 143 (illus.). cat.no. 246

Ursula Prunster (Australia) (Author), Seeing is believing: the art in photography, Sydney, 1985. cat.no. 12

'Photography, Towards a dialogue with other media' by Gael Newton p42-46, Australian Art Review 1982, 1982, 43 (illus.).

Exhibition history (10)

Seeing is believing - the art in photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 Dec 1985–19 Jan 1986.

Shades of Light, National Gallery of Australia, 1988–1988.

Works from the Photography Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 10 Feb 1989–15 May 1989.

In a certain light: Clarice Beckett and Olive Cotton, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, 08 Mar 1995–15 Apr 1995.

Review - works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 Mar 1995–04 Jun 1995.

Olive Cotton, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 May 2000–02 Jul 2000.

Olive Cotton, National Library of Australia, 14 Jul 2000–08 Oct 2000.

Soft Shadows and Sharp Lines: Australian photography from Cazneaux to Dupain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 30 Sep 2002–17 Nov 2002.

Great collections (2009), Campbelltown Arts Centre, 12 Dec 2008–18 Jan 2009.

Great collections (2009), Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 06 Feb 2009–15 Mar 2009.