Bernice Agar (09 April 1885–1976) was a leading Australian portrait, fashion and society photographer in the late 1910s until the 1930s.

Early life and education

Bernice Isabel Agar was born on 9 April 1885 in Bowen, Queensland, to Isabella (née Henderson) and Alexander William Agar. She began her career training as a photographer at the Bain Photographic studios in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

, Queensland. Portrait of Clara Butt - Bernice Agar NLA 136196254

Career

By 1917 Agar was already established as a prominent photographer. The Darling Downs Gazette covered an exhibition that was held of her work at the Bain Studios in Brisbane, and said, "It is doubtful if in Australia there is anything to come up to Miss Agar's work". In 1918 Agar established the Bernice Agar Studio in Sydney. Her portrait work was featured in leading magazines and newspapers of the period such as '' The Home Magazine'', ''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before bein ...

'', and ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

''. She photographed prominent women of the time, including Australian artist

Thea Proctor Alethea Mary Proctor (2 October 1879 – 29 July 1966) was an Australian painter, print maker, designer and teacher who upheld the ideas of 'taste' and 'style'. Biography Proctor was born in Armidale, New South Wales, to William Consett Pr ...

and British opera singer

Clara Butt Dame Clara Ellen Butt (1 February 1872 – 23 January 1936) was an English dramatic contralto and one of the most popular singers from the 1890s through to the 1920s. She had an exceptionally fine contralto voice and an agile singing technique, ...

. Anita Callaway writes that her style was characterised by "strong, dramatic cross lighting and theatrical, almost unnatural, poses". Barbara Hall and Jenni Mather note her "celebration of the two-dimensional with strong use of frontal lighting. The image is perceived as an arrangement of shapes: a hat may be chosen for its geometrical line, the body framed for effect and the who image subtly etched with shadow". After her marriage to James W. Hardie, an accountant, she wound up her business on 5 February 1934. Jack Cato said "the leading camera men of this country breathed a sigh of relief" when she stopped her career. She died in Sydney, Australia, in 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agar, Bernice 1895 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Australian women photographers 20th-century Australian photographers