B. 1911 - 2003

Olive Cotton (1911–2003) was one of Australia’s most significant modernist photographers, with a career spanning six decades. Born in Sydney, she became a prominent figure in the national photography scene before relocating to Cowra, New South Wales, in 1946. Her practice reflects both modernist and pictorialist sensibilities, encompassing portraits, landscapes, and explorations of geometric form. A defining characteristic of her work was her masterful use of light, often imbued with warmth and subtle sepia tones.

Cotton’s lifelong passion for photography began at the age of eleven, when she received her first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie. A childhood friend of fellow modernist photographer Max Dupain, she joined his Sydney studio in 1934, where she produced some of her most celebrated works. Cotton and Dupain married in 1939, and during World War II she managed his studio alongside a small team of women photographers. Among her most iconic images from this period are Teacup Ballet (1935) and Girl with Mirror (1938).

After the war, Cotton settled in Cowra, where she lived for the remainder of her life and continued her passion for photography. In 1964, she opened a studio in Cowra, and in the early 1980s, an Australia Council grant enabled her to reprint four decades’ worth of negatives and photographic archives.

Her extensive body of work was exhibited in Sydney in 1985 to critical acclaim. Following her passing in 2003, she was honoured through the establishment of the Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture, named in her memory. Cotton’s works are held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

To read a more in-depth biography of the artist, click here