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in Dupain's photographs of bathers, he shares interests with Cezanne's Bather

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for his painting The Bather, Cezanne used photographs to explore how a body moves through space

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it's a study of the placement of the body and its placement in the natural world

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both returned often to the bather as the subject of their art

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1937 The Sunbaker

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an athletic man lying on the beach

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fresh from the surf with beads of water on his back

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a monumental muscular form

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he solemnly claims his place in the environment

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he's almost hovering in this spatially disorienting photograph

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the sand and sky seem to merge

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this man has become part of the environment in which he is placed

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following the great loss of life of the First World War, there was an interest in Australia as far away and elsewhere

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the theme of revitalization was prominent

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exploration of body culture

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photography was able to reveal sexually differentiated energies

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Dupain focused on the body as a symbol of perfection

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the Sunbaker is part of a series that he produced

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men and women sunbathing on the beach, sometimes naked

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identified them with the revitalizing forces

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vitalism

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developed by French philosopher, Henri Bergson

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source of inspiration for Dupain

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underpinned the health and fitness movement

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Dupain was attracted to the vitalistic writings of Bergson

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Dupain was also influenced by D.H. Lawrence and Nietzsche

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focus

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the degenerative effects of modernity

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modern men and women should reconnect to the what they believed to be life forces

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emphasis on the intuitive and subjective

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therefore of interest to many artists

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a return to the classical world of the Greeks and Romans

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Sunbaker and series

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celebrates the power of sunlight

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Man and Sunlight (1927)

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Hans Suren

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weather-hardened men, bronzed with sun and strong as steel

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everyone should partake in what he termed active hygienics to benefit race and humanity

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referred to antiquity as a period when humanity was physically at its peak

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Sunbaker is a model of good health in the classical mold

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also photos of life savers which had military overtones

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themes of nationalism, sport and masculinity

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looked to the past invoking the fine muscularity of Greeks and Romans

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proposed as a model for contemporary men and women

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Dupain's views were formed during years at his father's gymnasium

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his father George Dupain was a member of the vitalist movement in Australia

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models were often members of his father's gymnasium

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upstanding

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symbols of moral virtue

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taps into powerful memories to give weight to his photographs

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1952 Exposure: Newport Baths

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man leaving pool at one of Sydney's most beloved surf beaches

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warm weather

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embodies a lanky, laconic masculinity

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believed to idealize what it meant to be Australiian

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clearly relates to Dupain's interest in antiquity

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a study of how the body is placed in space

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caught at a certain moment while the subject's thoughts are internalized

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the viewer avoids his gaze, as with Cezanne's Bather

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the subject's focus is inward

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their concern is for themselves

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shows a naturalized masculinity