Vaniman Panorama

On entering this exhibition you realize that the story of Vaniman is an intriguing one. He was an adventurer, singer, balloonist and a photographer as well as an inventor. His photographic images are a reflection of his enterprising spirit and show a remarkable detail and a window into a bygone era of Sydney in 1903-1904 where people rode horse drawn buggies and carts through the city.

The first room showcases a general introductory wall panel and a large scale panorama with an interesting contemporary replica of the same view of Town Hall. Accompanying this is a ‘making of’ audio visual which alludes to the fact that these turn of the 20th century panoramas are no mean feat.

The second room displays another five panoramas of various pastoral, urban and harbour and scenes. They show industry and a world going about its business, where cargo is delivered by steamships and the old rail tracks are laden with coal for the city’s sustenance. Again the remarkable detail shows that in amongst all the activity, a worker pausing against a fence railing for a mid-morning cigarette. There is something quaint and nostalgic about this lost city and I’m drawn in to scene after scene comparing them to the modern Sydney I know so well. Is that building still standing? Is that view of the harbor down Bathurst Street still the same? I wonder if the old painted signage remains on that façade.

The panoramas are large scale graphic reproductions with interpretive text integrated in the panels. While the images themselves are compelling, at this point in the exhibition, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down with the overall spartan approach to the curatorial direction and design. A foreword to the exhibition describes how “the State Library of New South Wales is fortunate to hold the world’s finest and most extensive collection of photographic panoramas by Melvin Vaniman”. If this is so, then why are so few on display?

I understand that the platinum contact prints from the original negatives are obviously too fragile for display and that a pragmatic approach creating high res scans and reproduction graphics have to prevail. BUT, on learning that Vaniman scaled a 30m pole he constructed, if a ships mast or hill wasn’t available for a birds-eye view, you can’t help but think “this is really quite something! Now here’s a man with a wholehearted passion for his art”. ...by the way - what did this pole look like and what compelled Vaniman to continue with the panorama format?

Another seven panoramas appeared in the third room. The most interesting image here is of Sydney looking south from Crows Nest where Vaniman tethered his imported American hot air balloon some 180m above the ground to take the shot of the then ‘bridgeless’ harbour. And so my original disappointment continued. Again I couldn’t help but wonder; how did he do this? Perhaps some information about this would have shed some light on the remarkable results that Vaniman achieved. It was only in the room brochure that I gleaned he had used developed special large format camera to make the most of a panoramic view. His invention allowed a single photograph 2 meters by 50 cm high in a single shot! Sounds impressive hey? Well …what did this camera look like? How did he achieve the crystal clear detail with his equipment even way up high, amongst the elements in moving balloon?

Some further research into the man, the social history of the time, or even historical info about the specific locations at the turn of the century would certainly have elevated these photographic images from a general sentiment of ‘olde-worlde’ nostalgia. Vaniman is the perfect romantic adventurer and a more than worthy subject for an exciting, breathtaking and out of the ordinary experience that COULD have been this exhibition.

The exhibition continues until January 2010 so wouldn’t you expect more effort from such a long running program? Perhaps this is a sign and a prelude to future disappointments as government cutbacks continue in the arts and heritage sector? I certainly hope not! If I had to rate the exhibit I’d give it a deflated 2/10.

State Library of New South Wales

20 June 2009 - 31 January 2010
Free entry
Monday -Thursday 9am -5pm
Weekends 10am - 5pm

Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2001
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/