Athol Shmith AM (1914-1990) was a Melbourne-based fashion and portrait photographer. He began taking society portraits in his parents' living room in the late 1920s. By the end of the 1930s he had premises in Collins St and was photographing international stage and musical celebrities including Vivian Leigh, Noel Coward and Isaac Stern. As a fashion photographer with a simple, elegant style, he launched the careers of a number of models, including Maggie Tabberer. In 1968 Smith helped to establish the department of photography at the National Gallery of Victoria. Later he became head of the photography department at Prahran College, and several of his students, including Bill Henson and the late Carol Jerrems, became well-known photographers themselves. The National Gallery of Victoria held a retrospective of Shmith's work in 1989.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
© Michel Lawrence
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.
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