Precious Landscapes celebrate the iconic and anonymous landscape through handmade…
Vale: Ian Lobb
Ian Lobb Photographer 1948 – 2023
It’s with great sadness we announce the sudden death of photographer Ian Lobb.
Ian’s contribution to the photographic world is huge. He received an Australia Council Grant in the 1970’s to study photography with Ansel Adams and Paul Caponigro. While in the USA he also met Eliot Porter, Brett West, Barbara Bullock, Harry Callaghan, Emmett Gowin and Ralph Gibson.
He taught photography at Phillip Institute and RMIT University and also conducted workshops in fine art photography. Ian was a master print maker and his work has been collected by the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria.
With William Heimerman he ran the Photographs’ Gallery and Workshop where work from the most significant photographers from around the world were shown.
His most recent work is of a Eucalypt in Fairfield.
Ian Lobb will be greatly missed.
Photograph above: Eagles Nest, Cape Paterson 17.6 x 17.4 cm silver gelatin print 1975. Ian Lobb. National Gallery of Victoria collection.
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I am shocked and deeply saddened to hear the terrible news of Ian’s sudden passing today.
Ian was an inspirational teacher who taught many people, including myself, the virtues of the “Fine Print”, including the darkroom techniques necessary to get there. He was also a great photographer with a number of his images collected by the National Gallery.
Ian was modest with his achievements, despite producing some stunning images. One of my favourites i s his image of the Black Mountain range in the Western district.
I have fond memories of attending life changing workshops with Ian and Les Walkling at the Punt Rd Photographers Gallery.
C1979. The workshops plus the many great iconic exhibitions curated by Bill Heimerman provided solid foundations and changed the way I saw the world. It was a time when Analogue photography in Melbourne was at its peak.
Ian kindly helped my son produce exhibition prints for his final year Photography at NMIT, which we now treasure.
Rest in Peace Ian Lobb.
Sad news indeed.
I found Ian Lobb’s Black Range landscape series, that he made between 1986-1996, inspirational for what a contemporary landscape in Australia could be, after the demise of modernism and postmodernism. The photographic emphasis was on place — as in being in a particular place — coupled to an intimate knowledge of that place through frequent visits and explorations.
Terry Smith in his book Introduction to Contemporary Art: World Currents argued that this form of small scale and modest local placemaking in a globalized world is one of the 3 main currents of contemporary art that he identified and sketched the contours of.