| Accession Number | AWM2017.838.1.1 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Print silver gelatin |
| Maker |
Dupain, Max |
| Place made | Australia: New South Wales, Sydney |
| Date made | c 1940-1944 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Studio portrait of Damien Parer
Description
Studio portrait of Damien Parer by photographer Max Dupain. Portrait is one of a pair belonging in a folio gifted to Parer by Dupain.
Damien Parer is arguably Australia’s most well-known war photographer and cinematographer. Prior to the Second World War Parer worked at Dupain’s studio and had been a member of the progressive Contemporary Camera Groupe. In 1940 he was appointed official military photographer and cameraman with the Department of Information (DoI) Film Unit. He served in the Middle East, Greece and the South-West Pacific until his resignation in August 1943 to join the staff of Paramount Pictures Film Services. He married Elizabeth Marie Cotter during a period of leave on 23 March 1944 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. Parer returned to action and was killed by a burst of Japanese machine gun fire on Peleliu Island on 17 September 1944 while filming front line operations with the US Marine Corps. Elizabeth Marie Parer gave birth to their son, Damien Robert Parer early the following year. She died 22 November 2003.